


In Broad Daylight

by Eneath



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), The Saga of Darren Shan - Darren Shan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M, Rumbelle - Freeform, Vampires, french & finns, vampire!gold
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-12 04:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2095737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eneath/pseuds/Eneath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to RL problems, I won't be able to continue this story for now. I want to come back to it one day, but I don't know when that will be. </p><p>After college, Belle takes up the position of librarian in Storybrooke. This small town isn't as boring as it seems; the inhabitants believe there is a vampire living among them, and Belle teams up with Ariel to get to the bottom of this mystery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic ever! 
> 
> This is an AU that takes place in the world of 'the Saga of Darren Shan'. It's not necessary to have read that, the important parts will be explained. 
> 
> A big thank you to my wonderful beta [justrumbelledearie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrumbelledearie/pseuds/justrumbelledearie)!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle calls Moe to tell him she got a job as librarian in Storybrooke

“Hello?”

“Papa, it’s me! I have such exciting news! After our last call, I applied for the librarian position in Storybrooke, and I got the job!”

“That’s great news, my girl! When will you be coming home?”

“I’m finishing a few last things here and then I’ll pack my bags. I start in two weeks, so I’ll leave for Storybrooke this Wednesday and find a hotel for the night in Syracuse. I should be getting in late Thursday evening. Do you have a spare bedroom that I could use for a while?”

“Of course you can stay here, sweetie! Don’t try to rush the drive, okay? If you need to take a break, take a break. I can wait a day longer, and I’ll make sure the spare bedroom is ready for you! We can go shopping if you want to make any changes to the rest of the house.”

“Papa, I really appreciate it, but I’m 24 and I’m not moving in with you. I plan on finding my own apartment. It’s only until I’ve found a place of my own. Do you know of any vacant apartments? Could you get me in contact with their landlords?”

“There’s only one landlord here, sweetie, and if you insist on your own apartment, I can get one for you. No need for you to worry about that.”

“Only one? What, one man owns the whole of Storybrooke?”  
  
“Yes, his name is Mr. Gold. But like I said, Belle, I’ll deal with him.”

“No, that’s okay, Papa. When I get there I’ll make an appointment with him to look at some of his apartments. I’d like to look at them myself.”

“Belle, my girl, I can pick out an apartment if you tell me what you’re looking for.”

“What’s this about, Papa? Surely this Mr. Gold can’t be that bad? What has he done that you don’t even want me to meet him?”

“Nothing! It’s just… I don’t know, sweetie. The locals don’t like him. He’s not very lenient with the rent.”

“Well, I don’t know, Papa, but if you had to constantly deal with people’s excuses about why they can’t make rent, you’d get tired of it pretty soon as well, wouldn’t you? It doesn’t sound like a good reason to avoid him. I´ll make up my own mind about him once I´ve met him. Besides, it´s a small town; I doubt I could avoid him forever. And even if you’d pick out the apartment, he would still be my landlord, Papa, so it´s better if I choose it myself and get it over with. No need for you to worry.”

“Would you at least agree to let me come along with you?”

“Really, Papa, I’m not a child anymore. What _do_ people say about him, that you’re so worried about me meeting him?”

“I know you’re not a child, sweetie, but a father worries. Let’s forget about this, okay?”

“Now I’m even more curious, Papa. What do people say about scary Mr. Gold?”

“Nothing, my girl. You’re right. I was being ridiculous. Now, I have this wonderful neighbor who I’m sure you’ll get along with. His name is Gary, and he’s the local PE teacher. I think you’ll really like him. I could invite -”

“I’m not even there yet and you’re already playing matchmaker - and not a very subtle one at that, Papa. No need to set up a meeting with him, I’ll probably meet him soon enough once I get there. Now, before you so suddenly changed the subject, you were going to tell me what horrible things people say about Gold. Has he killed anybody? Is he the local mob boss? Steals candy from -”

“No! No, of course not, I wouldn’t have wanted you to come here if there were murderers and gangsters running around!”  
  
“I was just _joking_ , Papa!I know he can’t be that bad if you still want me to come to Storybrooke. I’ll form my own opinion of the man.”

“I know, sweetheart, and I am really proud of you for that. Just be cautious, okay?”

“Yes, Papa. Now, I’ll probably be arriving in Storybrooke late Thursday night. That won’t be a problem, right?”

“Your father isn’t that old yet, dear.”

“I know you’re not old, Papa, but if the flowers arrive early Friday morning, I don’t want you staying up too late.”

“That won’t be a problem, seeing as LeFou will be unloading this Friday.”  
  
“I didn’t know you have employees, I thought you were running the shop on your own. Has this LeFou been working with you long?”

“No, he started a month ago. Gary actually asked me if I could give him a job after LeFou’s last contract wasn’t renewed. They’ve been best buddies since they met in high school. It’s nice to hear that they’ve been friends for so long and that they still look out for each other. Julien LeFou isn’t the best man for the job - he can be a bit clumsy - but he is a hard worker.”

“It’s good to hear you don’t have to run the shop all by yourself anymore. You run yourself ragged, Papa. You deserve a little rest every now and then.”

“You’re right, dear, and I am glad for his help, all thanks to Gary. Are you sure you don’t want to meet him?”

“Subtle, real subtle. But back to the topic of apartment-hunting: can you set up an appointment with this Mr. Gold that everyone fears? Or does he have an office where I can visit him?”

“No need to set up an appointment, sweetheart. The man is at his shop during the day. He doesn’t get much business, so you can just walk in and ask him. Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you?”

“Really, Papa, if you’re trying to keep me away from that man with all this mysterious business, it’s not working at all. You know I love a good mystery to uncover. Why doesn’t his shop get much business? What kind of shop is it? This isn’t some sort of reverse psychology tactic, is it? Like you want me to keep away from this Gary and secretly set me up with the guy who owns the whole town, so I can get rich, or something like that?”

“No, Belle! I don’t want you anywhere near that guy! That man isn’t worth all the money in the world.”

“Wow, calm down, Papa, I was joking. Just tell me, what’s so bad about him?”

“Nothing, my girl. Just let it go.”

“Oh, come on, Papa, you can’t say something like that and then expect me to drop it!”

“Please, Belle.”

“What do they say about him?”

“…”

“Please? Won’t you tell me, Papa?”

“They say he’s a vampire.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will post the first chapter later today, and after that I plan to post a new chapter every Thursday.


	2. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle arrives at her father's home in Storybrooke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the first chapter! 
> 
> Thanks to [justrumbelledearie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrumbelledearie/pseuds/justrumbelledearie) for beta'ing!

Belle was hopping from one foot to the other, waiting impatiently in front of the door. She was already in love with the quaint little town, even though she had hardly seen any of it. She had spotted her papa’s flower shop on her way over here, and it was just around the corner. Belle hadn’t been able to see much in the dark, but Moe seemed to be doing better than in New York, when she was still in high school. Not that that meant much - after all, the lack of business was the reason he left New York when she left to go to college, but still, it was something.

When her father finally opened the door, she immediately hugged him and kissed him on his cheek. Moe crushed her to him, whispering “I’ve missed you so much, my beautiful little girl. Come in, come in. Let me carry that bag for you.” He picked up her bags and walked back inside, depositing them on the stairs. Belle hurried after him.

“I missed you too, Papa, but I’m back, so you can stop worrying all the time.”

“A father never stops worrying, dear girl,” Moe replied, hugging her again.

After he’d let go of her, Moe walked into the living room and pointed Belle towards the couch. Then he went to the kitchen to fetch them both a cup of tea. Belle looked around the room, seeing the familiar drawings displayed on the walls. When her father walked back in with the tea, she said “I can’t believe you still have those drawings! I made them when I was, what, nine?”

Moe placed their cups on the table and sat down beside her.

“Why wouldn’t I still have them? They remind me of you. These drawings and some photographs are all I had of you, with you so far away.” He looked fondly at her drawings and the old pictures of her and her mom hanging on the walls.

“I’m sorry, Papa. I missed you too, but you could have called more often!” Belle hugged Moe again. “You silly man, I wouldn’t mind it if you called when you miss me.”

Moe held her close to him for a little longer, kissing her on the crown of her head. “I know, my sweet girl, but I didn’t want to cling too tight to you. I know little birds leave the nest one day and I wanted you to have a good time in college.” He kissed her again before sitting up straight.

“So tell me, my girl, how was your trip? No troubles on the road?”

“Everything went fine, and I was lucky, I got stuck in traffic only once. It was a really long trip though, I’m glad I could fit everything inside the car. I sold most of my furniture to the student who’s now renting my room, and I donated the rest to a thrift store. How are you doing? Are you eating properly?” Belle looked at her father with worry.

“You’re my child, Belle, not the other way around, I can take care of myself. And before you interrupt, yes, I can cook decent meals,” Moe huffed a little indignantly.

Belle just rolled her eyes. She knew her father’s opinion of a decent meal was different from her own, but now she was living in the same town again, and she could keep a closer eye on his eating habits.

While sipping on her tea, her mind drifted off to their phone conversation about her renting an apartment in Storybrooke. When she incredulously asked if she’d heard right that he said Gold was a vampire, her papa had answered that it was what the locals called him. Moe just thought Gold was a leech, bleeding everyone dry of their money, but apparently there was a story to be heard about Mr. Gold in Storybrooke, and Belle was determined to find out every part of it. When she’d mentioned this to her papa, he had said it was more like a horror story and that he’d prefer it if she wouldn’t go poking her nose where it could get burned. Of course, this did nothing to douse her burning curiosity.

Belle and Moe finished their tea in silence, Belle leaning a bit against her father, her eyes drooping with fatigue. When she had tried and failed to contain her fifth yawn, Moe decided it was time for his little girl to go to bed.

He jumped up from the couch, almost knocking over the table. “You must be tired after driving for almost two days, my dear.” He walked back towards the hallway. “Let me get your bags, and I’ll show you to your bedroom.”

Belle followed Moe upstairs, where he showed her the room that would be hers - for now. It was full of unopened boxes, and a bed and a closet were crammed inside, but it looked cozy.

“I used to store random stuff in this room and I don’t really have any other storage space, so you’ll have to maneuver around it for now. If you change your mind about renting an apartment, I’ll gladly find another place for it.”

Belle hugged her papa again. “Thank you, Dad. I appreciate it.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart, I’m just glad to have you close by again.” Moe patted her on the shoulder, sniffling a little. She supposed it really had been a long time since their last face to face meeting, when Moe visited her in her little room on campus for Christmas half a year ago.

“Do you need anything else?” Moe asked her.

“Where’s the bathroom?”

“It’s across the hall, second door on your left.”

Belle nodded, then started yawning again. “I’m off to bed then, Papa. Good night.”

“Good night, Belle. I’ll be up quite early tomorrow, but I’ll be as quiet as possible since I know you need your rest. I should have all the groceries you need for whatever breakfast you might want, but if you need anything else, just call me at the shop.” Moe hugged and kissed her again, then said “Sweet dreams, my girl,” and he left for his own room.

Belle stood in the middle of her new room for a while, lost in thoughts about starting her new life here in Storybrooke. After a minute or two she snapped out of it and started unpacking some clothes and toiletries. She went to the bathroom to take a quick shower, then she brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas. When she got out of the bathroom she could hear her father walking around downstairs. She shrugged, fighting her instinct to tell him he should go to bed, as it was already late for a weekday. She walked into her room and got into bed, burrowing in the blankets.

Belle was looking forward to the next day. She would go visit the mayor’s secretary, whom she had spoken to on the phone about the position of librarian, and also get the key to the library. The woman had sounded very nice, so maybe she wouldn’t mind showing her a nice little place to have lunch. After that, she would find out where Mr. Gold’s shop was located. In the past few days, her curiosity about the man had only grown, and she couldn’t wait to actually meet him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:  
> Sadly, none of the characters are mine.


	3. Welcome to Storybrooke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle explores Storybrooke. She meets some of the locals and she and Ariel decide to uncover all the mysteries surrounding Mr. Gold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Belle woke up the next day, feeling like she was in a sauna. She wrestled out of the blankets and kicked them off. She quickly closed her eyes again, cursing the sun streaming through her window. Belle made a mental note to remember to open the window and close the drapes tonight.

Her body ached from sitting for two days straight in her little car. She probably should have stopped more often to stretch her muscles, but driving bored her out of her mind, so she wanted to get to her father’s home as fast as she could.

After just lying on the bed for a while, Belle remembered she had a whole town to explore and she got up. She took a short shower and went downstairs to get breakfast. Her dad had obviously already left for work, and he had left her a note stating that he wouldn’t be able to join her for lunch, as he would be making deliveries.

Belle looked around in the cupboards, searching for bread to toast. She found it on the fourth try, and by that time she had also located the plates and cups. When her toast popped out of the toaster she had just finished making tea, and she nibbled on her toast while scanning through the local newspaper. It seemed like nothing ever happened in this town, seeing as the front page news was a cat rescued from a tree - that had apparently been scared out of its mind after meeting Mr. Gold.

After she finished breakfast, Belle decided to visit her father at the flower shop. When she got there, her father was helping a customer, so she took the opportunity to look around. It was bigger and lighter than Moe’s shop in New York had been. Belle admired the different flowers, feeling at home. After all, she had more or less been raised in a flower shop, back in Avonlee.

Belle missed the place where she grew up, but after her mother Gabrielle died when she was sixteen, it had pained her father too much to stay. Moe had an old friend who lived in New York, and he got Moe the shop. She hadn’t liked really liked New York - too much noise for her taste. Avonlee was close enough to Brisbane to have all the advantages of the big city, but none of the drawbacks.

Belle was so lost in her memories, that she hadn’t noticed Moe finishing up with the customer. He walked up to her and said, “Good morning, sleeping beauty! Had a good rest?”

“Papa!” Belle gasped, “You startled me!”

“Sorry dear,” Moe chuckled.

“I slept really well. How was your morning?” Belle asked.

“Good to hear. Nothing special happened, a few customers, LeFou almost crashed into that arrangement of orchids over there with a crate of mayflowers, but luckily I could steady him in time. So, what are your plans for the day?”

“I was thinking on exploring a bit and getting the keys to the library this morning. Maybe grab some lunch somewhere, meet the locals. Do you know a good place, Papa?”

“The place to meet people in Storybrooke is Granny’s. It’s the diner owned by Mrs. Lucas down on Main Street. Follow the road until the crossroads, then head left. It’s right next to the clock tower. That’s the library by the way,” Moe said. “Mrs. Lucas makes the best lasagna. You should try it out sometime.”

“Okay, sounds like a nice place to have lunch. And where is the mayor’s office? The mayor’s secretary told me I could pick up the keys there. Do you know her?” Belle asked.

“I think you mean Ariel. She keeps track of those things. Nice girl, very bubbly. She sometimes uses everyday objects in the strangest ways,” Moe said with a puzzled look. “You’ll pass the mayor’s office on your way to Granny’s. It’s the big, white building with pillars. Can’t miss it, really.”

“Thanks, Papa,” Belle said with a big smile on her face.

Moe glanced over his shoulder as the door opened. “I need to go back to work, sweetheart. You’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, Papa. You go help your customer. I’ll see you for dinner?”

“That sounds lovely, sweetie. I’ll call you when I’m finished here,” Moe answered. He kissed Belle on her cheek and walked to a dark haired woman stood at the counter.

As Belle walked out, she could hear her father say, “Of course, Madam Mayor, what kind of flowers would you like?”

She glanced back at the woman, whose regal posture screamed authority. The mayor somehow made her think about fairytales, princes and Evil Queens.

Belle already liked the quaint little town, even though she had arrived only yesterday, but she wondered if she hadn’t settled too soon. She wanted adventure, and it didn’t seem like much of that would happen here. At least she had a little mystery to solve in the form of Mr. Gold. Belle was definitely going to make a start on that this afternoon.

First things first, though: the mayor’s office. It really _was_ impossible to miss, especially after she had just gotten a look at the mayor. It fit her, very grand and regal looking. Belle went inside and soon found a redhead pouring tea, then using a pipe to add sugar. When Ariel straightened up, she noticed Belle.

“Oh hi there! I hadn’t seen you. Can I help you with something? Do you want some tea?” the woman asked.

“Hello, I’m Belle. We spoke on the phone about the position of librarian?” Belle said.

“Belle! Hi, so nice to meet you face to face! My name is Ariel Finns,” Ariel said, grabbing Belle’s hand. She cleared a chair and said, “Please, sit. It’s so nice to not be the only person from elsewhere living in this town! Can I get you anything? Tea? Cookies? I should also have some fresh strawberries somewhere around here…” Ariel said, poking around in the overstuffed fridge.

“It’s good to meet you too,” Belle responded. “I’d love some tea.”

Belle then watched with an amused smile on her lips as Ariel fished up two small bowls and put some ice cream in them that she found in the freezer. She started unpacking the fridge and finally located the strawberries. She put the strawberries in the bowl as well and topped it off with a tuft of whipped cream. While doing this, she talked about her best friends, a Fabius Flounder and Scott ‘Scuttle’ Snarfblatt, and their adventures. Most of them were cut short by Sebastian Horatio, someone hired by her father for that purpose, because the heir to his shipping emporium should be better behaved. She said the last bit with a strange accent, apparently imitating Sebastian.

Belle was impressed by the redhead’s adventures, most of which involved the sea and escaping the two henchmen of her father’s black market counterpart. All these daring tales reminded Belle of her plans for the afternoon, so when Ariel asked her if she already had a place to stay, Belle immediately latched onto this.

“I’m staying at my father’s place at the moment, but I’m looking for my own place. He told me that Mr. Gold owns all the property in Storybrooke, but I forgot to ask where I can find him. He also seemed a bit wary of the man. Do you know why that might be?”

Ariel got up and closed the door, then she said “Well, Mr. Gold can be a bit ruthless when it comes to business. He doesn’t give any second chances. If you can’t pay the rent, he evicts you. That is, of course, unless you take one of his loans with absurd interest rates. People know this, so it doesn’t happen too often.”

Is that why people call him a vampire? My father mentioned that he bled people dry of their money?” Belle asked, trying not to seem to eager.

Ariel frowned. “You heard of that already?”

“Is it supposed to be a secret?” Belle bit her lip, hoping this was not the case.

“Well, not exactly. The people don’t want outsiders to know - scares them off - but since you’re here to stay, you’ll hear it soon enough anyway.”

“Is it like a local myth?” Belle was sitting on the edge of her chair now, no longer able to contain her eagerness.

“I suppose,” Ariel said, putting her finger to her lips. “Many people in this town believe the myth, so don’t make fun of it in front of them.”

“They really believe Mr. Gold is a vampire?”

“Not _all_ of them, but the older people do. The kids are mostly just scared of him.”

“So what does the story say about him? Does it say how he became a vampire? Did he trade his soul to the devil for riches or eternal life?”

“Let’s see, there are some different versions of his story, but they all start around the same time. He first came to Storybrooke in 1768, as a rich merchant who traded in all sort of things, really. If you wanted something, Mr. Gold would find a way to procure it. For a price, of course.”

“Of course,” Belle agreed.

“I’m pretty sure Gold knows the story as well. He does this little thing...” Ariel sat up straight and, with a serious looking face and making a flamboyant gesture with her hand, said “All magic comes with a price!”

“The myth says he can do magic?” Belle asked.

“Not exactly. At least not that I know of. He _is_ very good at sneaking up on people. Or sometimes you’re looking for something in his shop, and then it’s in his hand all of sudden, and you’re sure he didn’t have it before. It’s just the way he sometimes can get things done that it almost _feels_ like magic. When you want him to do something that seems impossible, he just says he’ll ‘work a little magic’, followed by his catchphrase,” Ariel explains.

Belle tries to imitate Ariel’s earlier gesture, while saying “All magic comes with a price!”

“It sounds so different in your accent,” Ariel says. “Gold has his own accent, I think he’s from Ireland, but I’m not sure.”

“So he’s a magical vampire from Ireland, and he came to Maine in 1768. What happened then?”

“He met a woman, Miley or Millie or something like that. Mrs. Lucas, the owner of Granny’s, will know for sure. Anyway, he met a woman, they married not a month after, and two years later a son, Beathan, was born. This is where it all gets fuzzy, but there are three things that are the same in every version, and those three things happen ten years after Beathan is born. The first is that Mrs. Gold had had a lover, a sailor, for years, but it is unsure whether Mr. Gold knew about this. Secondly, the boy died, some say the mother killed him, because she found out his father was a monster. Others say it was an accident. There’s also people who say Mr. Gold killed him, when he found out about the lover and thought the sailor was the father, but most people say the boy died in an accident, and no matter how much of a monster Gold was, he would never kill the boy. Lastly, Mr. Gold kills his wife and chews the sailor’s hand off. I think. He either chewed or tore it off.”

Ariel takes a deep breath, then continues, “So that all happened back in the late eighteenth century. The sailor swore revenge, and Gold disappeared for a few decades. That’s been the routine since then. He would show up for a few years and then disappear again for some decades. The first time he came back he bought the whole town, and whenever he comes back he goes right back to running the town behind the scenes. On paper, it is his son or grandson or whatever descendant we’re supposed to be at now, but some portraits remain, and it looks like the same man.”

Belle could barely contain her excitement, and she asked “Where are these portraits? Can I see them? Are there any records of his earlier visits?”

“Wow, you’re really into this, aren’t you? Most outsiders just look at us like we’re nuts,” Ariel replied. “The portraits have disappeared - some say Mr. Gold removed them himself - but there are copies in books on the history of the town. You should be able to find them in the archive section of the library. Speaking of which, you’re probably here for the key?” Ariel looked apologetic. “I’m so sorry for holding you up, I can get really carried away by a story.”

“Don’t worry about it! I asked, and the story was _so_ worth it! I can’t wait to actually meet this Irish vampire. The library can wait, it doesn’t open for a week anyway. Don’t people consider him a friendly vampire? I mean, people don’t disappear and drained bodies aren’t found, so he doesn’t seem to kill people, right?”

“Not here, anyway. If he really is a vampire, maybe he uses his superhuman speed to run to other cities? Or maybe like in that Twilight movie he drinks from animals? It has happened that a cat or dog disappeared after attacking Mr. Gold. Not every time, luckily, or we wouldn’t have any of the beasts left.”

“He kills the animals? That’s monstrous!”

“ _That’s_ what upsets you about him being a vampire?” Ariel seemed highly amused. “We don’t know if it’s actually him, like I said, _all_ cats and dogs seem to hate Gold. Cats usually flee if he gets too close, but some dogs try to attack him. Even Pongo, who is a meek as a lamb, snarls at Gold.”

“That does seem unusual,” Belle mused.

“Not the rats, though,” Ariel said. “One of the kids once accidentally dropped his pet rat in Gold’s shop, and it ran straight up to Gold and tried to climb up his pants and nuzzle his leg. I wished I could have seen that, Alfredo said the look of shock on Gold’s face was worth the hours slaving away in the kitchen to pay for the drycleaners.”

“He only had to work? He hasn’t disappeared under mysterious circumstances?” Belle asked with worry, biting her lip.

“Oh no, I doubt the people fear him enough to let something like that slide,” Ariel was quick to assure.

“That’s good to hear. Interesting though, that a rat reacts so very differently to him compared to the cats and dogs. I wonder why that is…” Belle trailed of. She was already deep in thought, planning how to best solve this mystery. The library was first on her list, not so much anymore to see what work should be done to reopen it, but to find the books in the archive Ariel mentioned, and maybe some general books on vampires.

Suddenly, Belle remembered she didn’t even have the key yet. She glanced back to Ariel, who was looking to her expectantly. “Sorry, I zoned out for a moment. Did you say anything?”

“No problem. I said you look like you’re scheming. Can I join in the fun?”

“It would be great to have some help! I should really check out the library first, though. You said you had the key?”

“Yes! I have it right here!” Ariel answered, opening several drawers before she found an envelope with ‘Belle French, library’ on it, and handed it over to Belle.

“Thanks.”

“So that’s your first stop? To check the archives?” Ariel asked, looking just as excited as Belle felt.

“Well, originally it was to see how much work the library might need before I open it, but I suppose that can wait till next week. This just seems so much more exciting!”

“I totally agree with you. Ever since I moved to Storybrooke, I was curious about Mr. Gold, but none of the locals want anything to do with him. He is kind of intimidating, so I didn’t feel like I could do much on my own. I bet the two of us could get to the bottom of this! French and Finns, solving mysteries and defeating monsters! I like the sound of that,” Ariel said with a huge smile on her face.

“Okay!” Belle said, matching Ariel in her excitement. “Let’s get started right away!”

“If you wait five minutes, I can take my lunch break. The library is right down the road, and if you want, we can have lunch at Granny’s. It’s right next to the library.” Ariel got up from her chair and started shuffling papers around.

“My father also recommended Granny’s, so Granny’s it is! Can I help you with anything these last few minutes?”

“If you don’t mind, maybe you can do the dishes? It’s just our teacups and the bowls.”

“I’m on it!” Belle said, getting up as well and gathering the few dishes. Ariel had ordered all the paperwork in no time, and she got a towel to dry the clean dishes. When they were done. Ariel locked the office, and they were on their way to the library.

Belle fell in love with the library at first sight. She ran up to it and opened the door. A part of her mind registered that it was in good condition and wouldn’t need much work, but most was focused on finding the archive. She found it in the back, and by that time Ariel had entered the library as well. Belle was looking through the records, and she was surprised at how far back they went. She found a list of censuses from around the 1770’s, and in it an ‘Aonghus Gold’ was listed, along with family members Milah and Beathan.

“It says here his first name is Angus, or the old version of Angus at least. Do you know if it is the same for this Mr. Gold?” Belle asked.

“Angus? That sounds so normal. Nobody knows Gold’s first name. I mean, there are people who know of the records, but I suppose nobody has looked at them in a while.”

“Isn’t Angus Scottish?”

“I don’t know. Does it matter?” Ariel asked, as she peeked over Belle’s shoulder to read along.

“If he really is Scottish, you might not want to ask if he’s Irish. Some of them can be really proud about that. His wife is listed as Milah here, so you were close with Milly. There’s no record of any of them after 1780,” Belle said, paging through the rest of the book.

“I told you, they all died and Gold disappeared.”

Together, they perused some of the other books. A Mr. Gold appeared a couple of times, to buy new property and make some deals, but he always disappeared again after some years. In his absence, he had someone else take care of his business. There were some portraits included in some of the books, and they all seemed eerily alike.

After about half an hour, they decided to get lunch. They were still chattering about the portraits when they walked into Granny’s, but when the whole diner fell silent, they stopped talking as well.

“Are we not supposed to talk about this?” Belle whispered.

“Nah, I doubt anyone heard us. They’re just looking at the new girl,” Ariel answered. She walked up to the counter and greeted the waitress. The waitress, who had dark hair with red streaks, could barely spare a ‘hi’ before she said “Who’s your new friend, Ariel?”

“This is Belle French, Moe’s daughter. She’s our new librarian. Belle, this is Ruby, Mrs. Lucas’ granddaughter.”

“Pleased to meet you, Ruby,” Belle said, shaking her hand.

“It’s so nice to see a new face in town. We don’t get many people from outside. What do you want for lunch?”

“I’d like my usual sandwich,” Ariel replies.

“Belle, what can I get you?” Ruby asked.

“I’d like some soup, please.”

Ruby got them their food, looked around to see if Granny was watching, then sat down with them. “Belle, why did you decide to come to Storybrooke? Do you have a place to stay yet?” she asked.

“I can stay with my father for now, but I’ll start looking for my own place this afternoon.”

“You’re meeting the beast then?”

“Is he that horrible?” Belle asked with a frown.

“Just make sure you always have the money you owe him. So, why Storybrooke?”

“My father told me they were looking for a new librarian here, and I like to be close to him. We’re all the family we have. Have you lived here all your life?”

“Yes. I planned to leave a couple of times, but I don’t want to leave granny on her own and I like the people here, so I stayed.” Ruby smiled at someone behind Ariel and said “Hi Emma, how’s your day so far?”

A blonde woman dropped down next to Ariel and sighed deeply. “Hey Ruby, Ariel. Who’s the stranger?” she asked, extending a hand. “Emma Swan, I’m the deputy here.”

“Belle French, I’m -”

“Moe’s kid - he mentioned you some days ago. Ruby, can you get me some coffee and a pastrami sandwich? So, Belle, have you got a place to stay yet?”

Ariel laughed. Belle looked curiously at her, then said “For now, I am staying with my father, but apparently I’m in for a treat when I’ll start apartment hunting this afternoon.”

“People have been warning you about Gold then? Don’t worry, he’s not as bad as the locals make him out to be, just make sure you pay him in time.”

Ruby huffed. “He _is_ that bad, Emma. Just because he seems to like you, doesn’t mean he can’t be a real bastard to everyone else.”

Emma just raised her eyebrows and continued eating her sandwich. Ariel suddenly noticed the time and was already almost outside, shouting something over her shoulder containing the words ‘late’ and ‘Evil Queen’.

“Poor girl,” Ruby sighs. “The pay may be good, but working for that bitch can’t be worth it.”

“Who? You have a witch here as well?” Belle asks.

“What? No, a bitch.” Emma corrects her. “Ruby meant Mayor Mills, also known as the Evil Queen. You already know about our local vampire myth?”

“Yeah, my father mentioned it, but he didn’t elaborate, so Ariel told me the whole story.” 

“I bet she did. If there’s an underground vampire world, she’s sure as hell gonna explore it,” Emma said, rolling her eyes. Ruby seemed to agree with her.

“Well, back to work,” Emma said as she finished her coffee. “Don’t cause any trouble with our vampire, Belle. I’d hate to have to investigate anything more sinister than disappearing pets.”

Belle waved at Emma and continued eating her soup. When she finished she asked Ruby where she could find Mr. Gold.

“He’s just across from here, you can see the sign of his pawnshop through the window,” Ruby said, pointing. When she was sure Belle had seen it, she went back to wiping the tables.

Belle thanked Ruby and left. When she stood in front of the shop, she took a deep breath and walked inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big hug to my beta [justrumbelledearie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrumbelledearie/pseuds/justrumbelledearie)!


	4. Meeting the Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle finally meets Mr. Gold! Is he really as scary and dangerous as the locals think?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I didn't post this yesterday, I had to travel to my parents, and by the time I got there I was tired and I forgot!

It was a little gloomy inside, a bit like what you would expect from a vampire’s lair. It was safe to say Mr. Gold knew about his reputation. All the blinds were closed; not a spot of sunlight came in. The lamps that were turned on didn’t provide much light either.

Belle walked around, taking care not to stumble over anything. Nobody seemed to be within. She walked over to the counter, but there didn’t seem to be a bell or anything to let the owner know he had a customer. She looked around the shop again, and now noticed that a bell hung over the door. She must have opened it so carefully that the bell hadn’t made a sound.

Belle had just turned on her heel to walk back and open the door again, when a silky voice from _right_ behind her said, “Hello dearie. How can I help you?”

Belle wasn’t very proud of the shriek that escaped from her mouth. She almost knocked over a very expensive looking globe when she jumped away from the voice -its accent definitely Scottish - but she managed to steady herself just in time. Holding on to the counter for dear life, she turned around and got her first look at Mr. Gold. It was creepy how familiar he looked after the centuries-old portraits she’d seen. Either his family had some really strong facial-structure-genes, or there might be some truth to the vampire myth.

That didn’t explain the aging, though. In the oldest portrait Belle had seen, he looked to be about twenty years younger. Maybe she could do some research on art from that age. It was possible it was popular in that time to portray people more youthfully than they were.

Belle suddenly noticed Gold had raised an eyebrow, looking expectantly at her. She scolded herself for zoning out while meeting the local terror, and said, “I’m sorry, sir, I got a bit distracted. What did you say?”

“I asked what I can do for you,” he drawled. “Do I have something on my face? You were staring.”

“I am _so_ sorry!” Belle immediately answered. Then she paused, trying to find an answer that didn’t sound as creepy as ‘you just look so much like the portraits that I looked up in the library after I heard you are a vampire’. After a few seconds had passed, she settled for “You look a bit familiar.”

Gold’s expression didn’t give anything away, but somehow Belle knew he didn’t believe her. She felt a bit miffed about this - she hadn’t lied - but she decided to focus on other things for now.

“My name is Belle French. I’m looking for an apartment here in Storybrooke, and I was told you can help me with that.”

“Any connection to the florist?” Gold asked, while walking behind the counter.

“He’s my dad,” Belle answered. She looked on curiously as Gold unlocked a hidden safe and got a book out of it. All the entries were hand-written and from the snippets she could read upside-down while he paged through it, it kept track of his property here in Storybrooke. It seemed to go quite a few years back, all in the same, neat handwriting.

“I have three vacancies at the moment, all in very good condition. Do you want to take one immediately, or would you like to see them first?” Gold asked, looking back up at Belle.

“I’d like to see them first.”

“Very well. I close my shop around six most days. If you want, you can meet me here and I’ll show them to you.”

Gold closed the book and put it back in the safe. Belle saw him turn the key, but one moment later it seemed like it had disappeared from his hand. She shook her head to clear it; her eyes must be playing tricks on her.  

“That would be great. Thanks, Mr. Gold. I’ll see you again at six.”

Gold gave her a curt nod and walked towards the back. Belle just now noticed the curtain that divided the store from a backroom. She thought _that_ must be where Gold had come from. It seemed more likely than her first theory, which was that he had been hiding behind one of the trinkets in his bat form.

Belle left the store and couldn’t help but be disappointed by her meeting with Gold. After all the things she had heard about him, he didn’t seem as bad or different as the stories had made him out to be. Sure, it wasn’t really nice to sneak up on people like that, but maybe that was the only amusement he could get from his interactions with the locals, if they avoided him as much as they had encouraged her to do.

Belle bit her lip and looked around. After contemplating for a bit, she decided to explore Storybrooke. She could see the docks further down the street. She walked the other way, back past the mayor’s office. On her right side was the road back to her father’s shop. For a moment she thought about going that way, because then at least someone she knew was close by, but then the urge for a little adventure struck her and she went left.

Apparently, this was the better part of Storybrooke, with big houses and bigger yards. Belle wandered about for a while, taking a turn now and again, and looking at the beautiful houses in this part of town. After a while the houses became more sparse, and she noticed a forest. The thought that she was at the edge of town registered at the same time as the thought that she was lost.

Belle looked around, but she couldn’t remember all the turns she had taken, or the general direction she had come from. She tried walking in a random direction until she saw something familiar, but stopped before she could get even farther away from the town center. It was already close to 5 PM and she feared she might not be back in time for her meeting with Mr. Gold. She fished up her phone and searched her contacts for the flower shop.

“Game of Thorns flower shop, this is Julien LeFou speaking. How can I help you?”

“Helllo, this is Belle French. Can I speak to my dad?”

“I’m sorry, Miss French, he’s doing deliveries at the moment. Can I pass on a message?”

Belle could hear him scrambling around, probably looking for a pen. “He might have mentioned the deliveries. Uh… I was exploring Storybrooke, but I got a little lost. If I describe my surroundings, could you help me find my way back?” she asked, frantically looking around, hoping to find something that stood out more than the forest. From her drive here, she had gathered that most of Storybrooke was surrounded by trees. She noticed a pink house close to the forest, and Belle sighed in relief. It was a beautiful Victorian house, and she wondered what kind of person lived there.

“I hope?” LeFou answered tentatively from her phone. “Do you know the name of the street?”

“I don’t know. I can’t see a sign from where I’m standing, but I can see a pink house. There aren’t many of those here, are there?”

“Lucky! I know right where you are. That’s Mr. Gold’s house, you’re not too far away from the main road. Just walk away from the forest. When you cross Wilson Street, take a left. If you follow that, you’ll walk right into Main Street, not far from the mayor’s office.”

“Thank you so much!” Belle said, doing a little happy dance. “Do you know how far it is to Granny’s from here?”

“Ten, maybe fifteen minutes, I think.”

“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”

“No problem. I gotta help a customer. Bye!”

“Bye!” Belle replied, right before LeFou ended the call.

She took one last look at the pink house, then set off in the direction LeFou had indicated. It had surprised her to hear that Gold lived in the pink house. Even though her meeting with the man had disappointed her, she’d still had a feeling he would live in a dark castle, filled with the trophies taken from his victims. Instead, he lived in a house that was more cute than menacing.

When Belle got back to Main Street, she still had more than 45 minutes before her meeting with Gold. She decided to spend the time going through more books in the Archives. Once in the library again, she set the alarm on her phone, just in case she got so lost in her self-appointed task that she’d lose track of time.

Belle discovered that Gold never stayed longer than ten years, before disappearing for at least fifty years. She was about to see if the documents held a clue as to _how_ he had become a vampire, when her alarm signaled it was time to go back to the pawnshop.

Belle quickly put all books back where they belonged. She locked up and crossed the street to the pawnshop. She opened the door, again managing not to jingle the bell, and carefully looked around. She wanted to make sure there really wasn’t a bat hidden somewhere, waiting to turn back into Mr. Gold and scare the living daylights out of her.

The closed blinds didn´t really help, but it wasn’t long before Belle´s eyes got used to the semi-darkness. Someone had turned most of the lamps off as well. The two lamps that were lit, cast creepy shadows around the shop.

Belle felt a shiver run up her spine. She felt like she was at the part in horror movies where the poor girl foolish enough to investigate a strange noise on her own gets ripped to pieces by monsters. Maybe she should have told someone she was going to see Gold again. She took out her phone to send a quick message to her father that she was looking at apartments with Gold and would be a bit later for dinner.

“Very punctual, dearie. I like that in my tenants,” Gold said from right beside Belle. This time she didn’t scream, and even managed not to drop her phone in alarm, but her heart was racing. Belle was sure she saw Gold’s lips curl into a grin for a moment, but it happened too fast and it was too dark to be sure. She wondered for a moment if she hadn’t heard him coming because of his supernatural abilities, or because she was just so focused on her phone. At least she wasn’t dead. _Yet_.

She quickly sent her text, before asking “Are you ready, Mr. Gold? Or do you have some things to do before closing?”

“I just have to turn off these last two lamps and lock the door. Not so much for potential burglars as people waiting in the shop for hours. Almost nobody pays attention to the ‘closed’ sign, as you have just demonstrated,” Gold said, sending a glare Belle’s way.

“I’m sorry,” Belle said. “It was still a few minutes to six, and since the door was unlocked I figured the shop was still open. I’ll look for the sign next time.”

Gold had turned off the lamps in the meantime and was holding the door open for Belle. She walked out, mumbling ‘thanks’ and waited while Gold locked the shop. He crossed the road towards the library.

“The first apartment is above the library. They used to be a package deal, but my family bought the apartment some time ago. You can’t enter the apartment from the library.”

Gold motioned Belle to the side of the building. He opened a door and held it out for her again, motioning her up the stairs.

Belle hesitated for a moment. She didn’t have a problem with Gold, but her father hadn’t wanted her to be alone with him. She decided he had probably blown this whole ‘vampire-thing’ out of proportions, and was about to take a step towards the stairs, when Gold said “Tick-tock, dearie, tick-tock. I don’t have all day.” He had lifted first his right hand, then his left, with just the index fingers unfolded on the first ‘tick-tock, tilting his head slightly to the hand he was lifting. It seemed strangely flamboyant for a man who was so reserved the rest of the time.

“Sorry,” Belle mumbled. She bit her lip and looked down.

“Don’t worry, dearie. I don’t bite.”

Belle wondered if she had imagined the ‘not in broad daylight’ as a follow-up.

“After you, Miss French,” Gold said with a bow.

The stairs led to a small hallway, shaped like a mirrored ‘L’, with several doors. When Belle had climbed the stairs, they had creaked several times, but she wasn’t surprised anymore when Gold stood next to her all of sudden without having made a noise.

“Let’s start here on our left and go clockwise from there,” Gold said, gesturing to the closest door. He opened it, revealing a bathroom. Belle peeked inside. It seemed to have been renovated not too long ago; everything looked brand new. She was pleased to note it had both a tub and a shower.

After that Gold showed her the toilet, a bedroom that was empty save for a closet and nightstand, a fully equipped kitchen that also serviced as a dining room; and lastly the living room, which was also already furnished. Most of the furniture looked as good as new, and the rest probably hadn’t been used at all.

Belle really liked the apartment. Everything seemed to be in the right color, and it looked very cozy. If she’d be able to pay for it, she would only need to get a bed, maybe some extra bureaus, and a very big bookcase. The last time her father had visited her in Urbana-Champaign he had almost tripped several times over her books lying all around.

“Do you like the apartment?”

“I do. The location is absolutely perfect, of course.”

“It is, that’s why I showed you this one first. Do you want to see the other apartments?”

“I’d like to take this one, if I can afford it. How much is the rent?”

Gold handed her a stack of paper - Belle was sure he had conjured it with magic - and said, “Everything you might want to know is in here.”

Belle scanned through the papers. The rent seemed more than reasonable, she would easily be able to make it. The contract consisted of several pages, and she was sure she’d better read all stipulations and conditions _very_ carefully.

When Belle glanced up from the contract, Gold was holding out a pen to her.

“Why would I need that?”

“To sign the contract, dearie. You didn’t look horrified after you saw what the rent would be. You said you liked the apartment and that you didn’t want to look at the others. I took this to mean you want the apartment.”

“Do you really expect me to sign a contract without carefully reading it?”

“Well… Yes,” Gold answered, looking very confused.

It was the first time Gold’s careful mask had slipped, and Belle’s first response - did he take her for an idiot- died on her lips. She noticed his face was very expressive, going several times from his mask back to utter confusion. It took him a few seconds to get his mask completely back in place.

By that time, Belle was having trouble keeping the smile off of her face. Gold had looked so completely _adorable_ , she just wanted to hug him. In his befuddled state, he hadn’t seemed very intimidating, nor his presence as tall and menacing as before. The adorable cutie pie that Gold hid underneath all of his layers looked like he could use a good hug.

However, now that his mask was back on, Belle was glad she had been able to contain herself. Better not to tempt fate on her first day here by hugging the town monster.

Belle figured she hadn’t been very successful at hiding her smile, because now Gold was glaring daggers at her.

“Nobody ever reads the contract,” he said, sounding almost sullen. Immediately after the words left his mouth, his posture shifted slightly, but it was enough to look his intimidating self again. “Do you want a lawyer to look it over for you?”

Belle frowned. Gold was looking at her with a cocky smirk, like he wanted her to say yes.

“That’s not necessary. Can I take it with me to look it over tonight?”

“Of course. Do you have any other questions?”

“Not that I can think of at the moment. What time shall I come to your shop tomorrow to tell you my decision?”

“Whenever suits you. I’ll probably be there the whole day.”

Gold waved her back towards the stairs and moments later they were back outside. He locked the door again and started towards his shop.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Gold. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Belle said to his retreating back.

Gold turned around to do a little half bow, twirling his hands. Then he’s back to facing away from her again without ever having broken his pace. Belle hadn’t noticed before how gracefully he moved. Somehow his fluid movements reminded her of a predator. His pants were also just tight enough to show what a nice butt they were hiding.

Belle mentally slapped herself. In a few minutes time she had almost hugged the most feared man of Storybrooke - a complete stranger - and now she was even checking him out. Best to head over to the flower shop quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my wonderful beta, [justrumbelledearie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrumbelledearie/pseuds/justrumbelledearie)


	5. No One Makes a First Impression Like Gaston

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle flees back to the flower shop, where she meets Gaston and LeFou

Belle stumbled into the flower shop, the familiar scents immediately calming her. Surely nobody would blame her for checking Gold out. He looked damn fine in those suits, even though he was probably twice her age. Or ten times her age, depending on which story you’d believe.

When she felt sufficiently in control again, Belle looked around the shop. Her father was probably still doing deliveries; he was nowhere to be seen. A man stood at the counter, so she headed that way.

When Belle reached him, she asked, “Are you Julien LeFou?”

“That’s me,” he said, turning to her. “How can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Belle,” she said, offering her hand. “Thank you for helping me earlier.”

“No problem. Miss French. I’m glad you found your way back. Did you stop somewhere on your way here? You should have gotten here more than an hour ago.”

“Yes. I had a meeting with Mr. Gold, but I stopped at the library before that.”

“Is the library open again? I thought it was still closed.”

“I’m the new librarian! I got the key of the library this afternoon, but it won’t open until next week.”

“I see,” LeFou said with a smile. “I’ll be able to visit the library then. Mrs. Pince, the last librarian, was a bit scary. I once brought a book back with a coffee stain, and I swear she yelled at me for over an hour.”

“You better not do that on my watch either!” Belle said, raising her finger in mock-warning. “You treat my books with care, or I’ll -”

“LeFou!” someone shouted.

A giant man entered the flower shop. “LeFou! Why are you still here?”

The man stomped towards LeFou, not even noticing Belle. He jabbed LeFou in the chest, saying “You should have been at Granny’s ten minutes ago.”

LeFou took a step back, wincing and rubbing the sore spot.

“Sorry, I texted you I would be late. Moe is delivering flowers to the Mayor and he asked me to tend to the last few things in the shop. It all took a little longer than expected.”

The giant harrumphed. Then he noticed Belle.

“And who might you be?” he asked.

“Gary, this is Belle French. Moe told us some days ago she’d be moving here. Miss French, this is Gary Gaston,” LeFou said, pointing to the giant next to him.

Gaston shook her hand. Belle thought LeFou wasn’t a small man, but he was dwarfed by Gaston. His name sounded familiar.

“Mr. LeFou, is Mr. Gaston the one who got you your job here? My father mentioned someone named Gary on the phone.”

“Yes, Gary recommended me to Moe. By the way, you can call me Julien. Or LeFou, that’s what most people do.”

“Only if you call me Belle.” Belle turned to Gaston, and said “Thank you for making my father accept some help. He can be very stubborn.”

“You’re welcome. He mentioned you last time I was here, but he didn’t say his daughter was such a beauty,” Gaston said.

The way Gaston smiled at her, made Belle’s neck hairs stand on end.

“He did, in a way,” LeFou said.

“Did he? I don’t remember that.” Gaston let his gaze rove over her body. 

“Her name means ‘beauty’ in French.”

“No wonder. Her looks have got no parallel in this quiet little town,” Gaston muttered.

Belle bit her lip. She was starting to feel uncomfortable under Gaston’s stare.

“Do you know when my father will be done with the deliveries?”

“I expect your father back any minute now. Normally he’s done before six, but this big last-minute order from the Mayor screwed everything up. She didn’t want the flowers delivered before six.”

“Weird. Did she say why?” Belle asked.

“It’s not the strangest request the Mayor has ever made, and she almost never explains herself,” LeFou replied, shrugging. “Have you met her?”

“I saw her in passing this morning when I was here.”

“She can be very demanding. People used to fear her almost as much as Gold, but over the last two years she has softened somewhat,” LeFou explains.

“She still behaves like she’s a queen instead of a mayor,” said Gaston.

LeFou shifted uncomfortably. “People used to call her the Evil Queen,” he almost whispered.

“That’s the second time today someone called her that. What kind of town is this?” Belle asked. “I thought this was a boring little village, but it seems to be crowded with vampires and Evil Queens.”

“Nah. Just those two,” LeFou said. “And the Mayor isn’t that bad. Not anymore at least. It’s a small town, we just like to exaggerate. Gold and the Mayor are the only two to provide some entertainment on a regular basis. It’s like a hobby. We make up horror stories about them and exchange them at Granny’s.”

“That seems like an unusual hobby,” Belle said. “Doesn’t this hurt -”

“What do _you_ like to do in your spare time, then?” Gaston interrupted her.

“I like to read.”

“Tell me you aren’t one of those people who read boring books without pictures,” Gaston said.

“Well, some people use their imagination. What do you read?”

“I don’t read much, but sometimes I read comics. Reading seems like a waste of time.”

“How can you say that!” Belle exclaims. “Books are filled with adventures and other worlds! They’re not boring; they’re gateways to different worlds!”

“Books fill your head with silly ideas.”

“I think books - 

“Stop right there,” Gaston interrupted her again. “Don’t waste your time on books. Your time can be better spent. On _me_ , for example.”

Gaston flashed Belle a dazzling smile and posed in a ridiculous way, showing off his height and broad shoulders.

Belle could only stare at him. She couldn’t believe Gaston was serious; did people like this actually exist? From the way her father talked about him, he had seemed like a nice guy, but she could never connect with someone who had such a profound distaste for books.

Apparently, Gaston had taken Belle’s silence as approval, and now he was talking about activities better suited for a woman. He thought it was good of her to move in with her father, because it was a woman’s duty to cook and clean for a man. Now all she had to do was find a husband and sire him some children, and she would be the perfect woman.

“So Belle,” Gaston continued, “How about dinner tomorrow?”

Belle wondered for a moment if perhaps he was joking, but the lecherous smile he was giving her and his inability to keep eye contact with her indicated otherwise.

“Now listen here, you misogynistic pig! If you think for a second -” Belle said, preparing herself to give Gaston a good dressing down, when she was interrupted again.

“LeFou!” Moe shouted as he came in. “Do you have those papers I asked for?”

Moe came in carrying a big container of plants with both hands. He set it down somewhere off to the side and started for the counter, when he noticed Belle and Gaston.

“Hello sweetie. Had a good day? I see you met Gary. Isn’t he a strapping young lad?”

“Hi Papa. My day was wonderful! I met with Ariel to get the key for the library. We went there together, and we had lunch afterwards. I explored a bit of Storybrooke in the afternoon. How was your day? You look exhausted, Papa.”

“I’m just a bit tired from dealing with the Mayor, darling. No need to be concerned,” Moe replied. He rubbed his forehead and leaned on the counter. “So, you explored Storybrooke, eh? Did you have a map? Or did you accidently find your way back on your own?” he asked with a grin.

“I don’t _always_ get lost, Papa.” Belle pouted. “I called the shop and LeFou gave me directions back,” she reluctantly added.

“How much more work do you have to do? After all that walking around, I’m a bit peckish.”

Moe chuckled. “Just a minute, sweetheart. I’ll close the shop and then we can go.” He turned to LeFou to discuss some last details regarding the Mayor’s order. This gave Gaston the opportunity to talk to Belle again.

“So, my beautiful lady. We were discussing our date before we got interrupted. What time shall I pick you up tomorrow?”

“I beg your pardon?” Belle asked perplexed. “I am not _your_ lady. _We_ are never going on a date.”

“Don’t be like that, Belle. You know you want to!”

“It’s a no and that’s final,” Belle said. She turned to Moe and said “Papa, I’m going ahead to start dinner. Don’t be too long! Bye, LeFou!”

And without saying anything else to Gaston she turned around and went home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the wonderful [justrumbelledearie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrumbelledearie/pseuds/justrumbelledearie) for beta'ing this!
> 
> Next time: Belle asks people what to look out for in his contracts, and another meeting with Gold!
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> I don't own Once Upon a Time.


	6. Contracts and Libraries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle signs the contract and starts with preparing the library for opening.

By the time Moe came home, Belle had read the contract twice and she was just starting dinner.

“Sorry it took so long, sweetie. Can I help with anything?” Moe asked.

“No problem, Papa. Can you cut the vegetables?”

Moe set himself to the task, and while they were working, Belle informed him about her day. When she had told him about her immediate friendship with Ariel and the warm welcome from the people at the diner, she remembered something that had been bugging her.

“Papa, people say that the Mayor used to be almost as bad as Mr. Gold, but that for the last few years, she’s been nicer. Do you know what changed?

“Oh yes! They used to call her the Evil Queen. She had a real attitude problem a few years back. First she softened a little bit when she adopted a boy, Henry. He’s a good kid. Anyway, about two years ago Henry somehow found his birthmother and brought her to Storybrooke. You met her, Deputy  Swan. At first Regina felt threatened by her, and tried to drive her away. When Henry almost got seriously hurt because of their feud, they decided on a cease-fire. They’re co-parenting Henry now and the two of them are close to friendly nowadays.”

“You know, Papa, for a boring little town this town isn’t as boring as you made it out to be,” Belle mused.

“Sorry, sweetheart. It’s not like a _lot_ happens. It’s mostly just stories.”

“If it’s just stories, why don’t you want me near Gold?”

“I don’t like the guy. He gives me the creeps,” Moe shuddered. “There’s something dark about him. I don’t really know how to explain it, but sometimes he gives off these predatory vibes.”

“I think he’s just amused by how terrified everyone is of him,” Belle stated.

“If you say so…” Moe sounded unsure. “I take from this your meeting with him wasn’t too bad. Did you find a nice apartment?”

“He showed me the apartment above the library! It’s absolutely perfect. It’s not very big, but there’s more than enough room for me, and it comes almost completely furnished!” Belle exclaimed. By now, dinner was almost ready, so she set the table, before continuing “I’ve read the contract - are his contracts always this extensive? - and everything seems to be fair. Would you mind looking it over with me later, Papa? You’ve been here longer; have you heard about things to watch out for in his contracts?”

“From what I’ve heard around here, the most important thing is that you can pay his price. You don’t want to be in that man’s debt. The location seems perfect. I suspect the rent won’t be too high; the place would only be interesting to the librarian or a very desperate person.”

“That’s why Gold showed me that place first,” Belle smiled. “I’ve done the math; I should easily be able to make rent, buy groceries and other necessities, and still put some money aside on my savings account.”

“That sounds good, my dear,” Moe replied.

Moe put the pans on the table and filled his plate.

“You know what, sweetheart? Why don’t you see if you can find Deputy Swan tomorrow. She may be relatively new here, but she’s a pro in dealing with Gold. Maybe she won’t mind looking the contract over as well. She’s one of the few people here who have the guts to call him out if he’s misbehaving.”

“I’ll do that, Papa,” Belle said in between bites. “I don’t think he’s as nasty as people say he is, but it can’t hurt to be cautious.”

“That’s my smart little girl!” Moe said with a smile.

The rest of the evening they spent talking about the flower shop, until Moe declared he should head up to bed. Saturday was his turn to unload the flowers. Belle kissed him goodnight, but after reading for a bit, she decided she’d better tuck in early as well.

When Belle woke up the following morning, she was glad she had remembered to open the window this time. It was far cooler in the room. She took a quick shower and ate breakfast, and after that she went on her way to the library. She could vaguely remember thinking it wouldn’t need much work, but she’d better take another look with her full focus on the task.

On her way to the library, Belle noticed Emma standing in front of the sheriff’s office with a young boy.

“Hi Emma,” Belle greeted her.

“Hey Belle!” Emma waved at her. “This is my kid, Henry. Henry, this is Belle French, Moe’s daughter.”

“Pleased to meet you, Miss French!” Henry said enthusiastically. “You’re going to be the new librarian, right?”

“It’s my pleasure, Henry. You can call me Belle - no need to be so formal,” Belle replied, shaking the boy’s hand. “I am the new librarian, but the library won’t be open for another week.”

“That’s great!” Henry exclaimed. “The library has a great fairytales section, I can’t wait for more books to read. Have you heard about the ‘Once Upon A Time’ series, Miss Belle?”

“You can drop the ‘miss’ as well, Henry,” Belle chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever read those. It sounds like fairytales. Are they any good?”

“Oh they are absolutely _awesome_! It’s _all_ the fairytale characters in one story. The main character is Snow White’s daughter, Jennifer, and they’re trying to stop the Evil Queen from casting a horrible curse. The Evil Queen has asked Rumplestiltskin for help, but Belle from Beauty and the Beast is trying to convince him to help the Charmings - that’s Jennifer, Snow White, and Prince Charming - and at the same time Mulan is helping prince Philip to defeat Maleficent, so she can’t -”

“Hush Henry! You’ll spoil the whole story,” Emma said, looking apologetic.

“It sounds like a wonderful story! Why would Rumplestiltskin listen to the Beauty, though? And what is Mulan doing with prince Philip?” Belle asked.

“Belle and Rumplestiltskin have True Love. Rumple is also the Beast,” Henry explained. “We haven’t gotten to Mulan’s backstory yet, so I don’t know how she met Philip. Do you like the story?”

“I do! I’m definitely going to check those books out,” Belle said excitedly. “Thanks for the recommendation, Henry.”

Henry gave her a big smile and a thumbs up.

“By the way, Emma, Gold gave me the contract for the apartment above the library. I’ve looked it over, but it’s so detailed! Do you know if there’s anything in particular I should look for?”

“I could look it over for you,” Emma offered. “Gold never puts anything illegal in it, but he is the king of the loopholes.”

“Thanks, Emma. That would be great,” Belle replied. “Why would a pawnbroker know so much about the law?”

“He’s actually a lawyer, so it’s not that strange. I don’t know why he even has that shop; he almost never sells anything. I think he just likes to collect stuff.”

“He’s a lawyer?”

“Yep,” Emma nodded. “Come to think of it, he’s the only lawyer in town.”

“No!” Belle gasped. “What a sneaky… uhm… bat! _That’s_ why he suggested I should let a lawyer look at the contract.” Belle sighed deeply. “I wished I’d known then. Looking back, it’s actually kind of funny.”

“That does sound like Gold,” Emma agreed. She glanced at her watch. “Hey, I need to get Henry to Regina. We can meet at Granny’s for coffee later, and I’ll look at the contract, okay?”

“Of course! Around eleven?” Belle asked, looking at her phone for the time. It was almost ten, so that should give her enough time to check on the library.

“Sure. I’ll see you then!”

Emma and Henry took off in the direction of the mayor’s office.

“Bye, Miss Belle!” Henry shouted from over his shoulder, waving at Belle.

Belle crossed the street to continue towards the library. She started cataloging how much work needed to be done. The library could use a lick of paint and a new desk - preferably with a computer - but other than that it was in a good state. For now she would get a start on getting the books back in order; currently it was chaos, and searching for a particular book would be quite bothersome.

When Belle heard the clock tower chime eleven she dropped everything and hurried next door to meet Emma.

Belle had just sat down when Emma entered the diner. Emma spotted Belle and sat across from her. Ruby swept in to take their order - hot chocolate for Emma and tea for Belle, apparently neither of them were in the mood for coffee.

“So,” Emma began, “How was your first meeting with the monster?”

“Honestly? I was kind of disappointed. The way my father tried to warn me away from him, I was half expecting never to get out of his shop alive.”

Emma smiled. “Yeah, the locals really like to scare newcomers. I’m still trying to figure out if they want to scare people away to spare them, or if they’re in some cult and secretly worship their vampire. You know, lure people in with murder and mystery.”

“Would that even work?” Belle asked, biting her lip.

“Seems to be working on you. I heard Ariel was really happy to finally have a partner in crime. Just be careful how you deal with Gold. You don’t want to be buried in lawsuits.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Belle said, raising her cup in thanks.

They spent the next few minutes on small talk. Belle found out Henry was twelve and would be starting middle school after the holidays.

After they finished their drinks, Emma looked through the contract. When she’d finished it, she said “Looks like his standard contract. As long as you’re able to pay the rent, you won’t be in any trouble. You don’t want to be in Gold’s debt.”

“I’ve heard that before. What does he do when you can’t pay the rent? Does he make you donate blood to him?”

Emma laughed. “Nah, he just offers you a loan. Never take one from him, though; his interest rates are through the roof.”

“Duly noted,” Belle grinned.

Emma grinned back at her. “How are things at the library? Will it require a lot of work?”

“Not really. Mostly reorganizing the books and painting the walls. Do you know someone who could help with that?”

“You could ask Leroy,” Emma answered. She looked around and pointed at a guy sat at the counter. “That’s him. He can be a bit grumpy, but he is a good guy.”

“Thanks, Emma.”

“Anytime, Belle.” Emma glanced at her watch. “I need to get back to the station. If you ever need anything, just let me know,” Emma said as she got up.

“Okay. Thanks again, Emma. Bye!”

When Belle turned around again after waving Emma goodbye, Leroy was sitting in front of her.

“Hello, Sister,” he said. “I overheard you talking to Emma; I can help you out at the library.”

“Hi. That would be great! I’m Belle by the way.” Belle offered him her hand.

“Leroy. As payment you have to let me introduce you to the Rabbit Hole. People go there after work to have a proper drink. I hope you can hold your liquor.”

“Wow, I don’t know Leroy. Having a drink after work sounds like a pretty hefty price,” Belle replied with a smile. “Is that the only payment you want?”

Leroy smiled as well .“You’re paying for my drinks, Sister. And I can _definitely_ hold my liquor.”

“Agreed.” Belle raised her - long empty - cup. “What time can you start Monday?”

“Nine, though I’d prefer ten.”

“We can start at ten. I don’t think it’s that much work with the two of us.”

“Good. I’ll meet you at the library.” Leroy said before he got up and left.

Belle stared at the place he had vacated with a confused frown for a few seconds. She snapped out of it quickly; she had things to do and monsters to visit. This time she wouldn’t let Gold distract her. She wanted to have a good look at the shop. There must be so many interesting things in there, and during her first visit she had been too scared to notice, and the second time it had been too dark. This time she also wouldn’t let the creepy dealer sneak up on her.

After she’d paid for her tea, Belle crossed the street to the pawnshop. She again managed to enter the shop without jingling the bell. She slowly made her way around the shop, examining the various knickknacks on display. She always kept half an eye on the curtain dividing the shop from the back.

After a minute or so Belle thought she saw movement close to the curtain, but when she fully turned her head, the curtain was still in place and no one was around. She shook her head. Belle could have sworn she saw a flicker of a shadow move away from the curtain, but that was impossible. Right?

“That little bell has a purpose, Miss French.”

Belle whirled around, and lo and behold, Mr. Gold had somehow materialized out of thin air behind her. _Again_.

“Hello Mr. Gold.” Belle tried to smile at him, but her shock over him sneaking up on her had her a bit breathless, so it might be more of a grimace.

“One might suspect that a customer who doesn’t want the owner to know she’s in the shop is up to something,” Gold told her with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh no, not at all!” Belle gasped. “I just wanted to have a proper look without you distracting me.”

Once the words had left her mouth, Belle thought she should have phrased that differently.

“I… distract you?” Gold frowned.

Belle stumbled to find a good explanation. “You know - uhm - distracting with your suits and your scowl, frowning at my every movement?” Belle’s intonation made it sound more like a question. “Anyway,” she continued immediately, “I read the contract. I’d like to take the apartment.”

“Good. Sign it and I’ll give you the keys,” Gold said, still a puzzled look on his face.

“I have one question. There is no account number anywhere in the contract; where should I transfer the rent?”

“I collect it every month.”

“Like… cash? Isn’t that a bit old-fashioned?”

“People seem more inclined to pay if I personally come to get it. It also gives me the chance to meet my tenants.”

“I see,” Belle said. She managed not to add the ‘you _do_ look like such a people person’.

“I take it that nobody told you this?”

“Indeed not,” Belle answered, biting her lip.

“You won’t have the money for the rest of the month on you then. How about a deal, Miss French?”

“People have warned me about making deals with you, Mr. Gold.”

Gold chuckled. “Of course they have. It’s a good deal: I don’t have to pay the first month of my library-membership, and you don’t have to pay the rent for these last few days of the month.”

“Are you sure? Ariel told me the membership fees have been altered since the last librarian left. They decided to -”

“Yes, Miss French, I’m sure,” Gold said a bit exasperated. “Do we have a deal?” Gold held out his hand to Belle.

“Uh, okay then,” Belle mumbled. She shook his hand.

Gold made her sign the contract, and while he got the keys, Belle thought the deal over she just made. Obviously, Gold didn’t know yet that the mayor’s office had significantly upped the budget for the library. The membership fee would only be five dollars per month, and that could compare in no way to the five days left of the rent. Well, it was his own fault for not wanting to listen to her. She definitely got the best end of the deal.

Gold handed over the keys and told her he would collect rent on the last day of the month, unless that was a Sunday, then he would collect it on Saturday.

When they had concluded their business, Belle said with a look at her watch “Thanks, Mr. Gold. Can I have a look around at the shop, or were you planning on closing for lunch?”

“You can look around now,” Gold answered. Belle spotted the look of confusion that she had found so adorable during their last meeting making a very brief appearance.

“Thanks,” she smiled.

“I’ll just stand behind my counter, repairing this clock, and pretend I’m not watching you.”

Belle gaped at him.

Gold’s eyes turned huge. “Scowling! I meant scowling! You know - so you don’t have to feel distracted and… You know, I’ll just shut up and go work on that clock now.”

Gold looked highly embarrassed and Belle had a hard time keeping from laughing out loud; keeping the huge smile off her face had already failed. It was a good thing he had turned his back to her, and by the time he reached the counter, Belle was already perusing the shop.

When Belle chanced a look over her shoulder in Gold’s direction, he was indeed working on a clock. Even though it was lighter in the shop than yesterday, it was still rather gloomy, but Belle was willing to bet that she could spot a hint of color on Gold’s cheeks. Nobody had mentioned to her that the monster was easily flustered.

Belle directed her focus back to the shelve she stood in front of. She slowly moved through the shop, taking it all in. There was just _so much_ , and it seemed to come from everywhere and every period. Belle noticed an old oriental oil lamp, a pair of puppets that gave her the creeps, and she was pretty sure she saw a vase from ancient Greece.

When Belle got to a corner in the back, she noticed a shelf with books. And not just any books, but old ones. Very old, some were even handwritten. She probably didn’t even want to know what those would cost. She could barely contain her delight. Belle was biting her lip and hopping from one foot to the other. She wished she could touch them, but the shelve had a glass door with a lock. Belle promised herself to never _ever_ get on Gold’s bad side, so that maybe one day she could have a proper look at those books. Belle sighed dreamily. She was pretty sure that the ‘Opticks’ by Newton she had spotted was an original first edition. What she wouldn’t give for the chance to hold it for even a little while.

Belle was interrupted from her thoughts by her stomach grumbling loudly. She said goodbye to Gold and headed to her father’s home to get lunch and start gathering her things.

The rest of the weekend was spent on buying the last few things for her new apartment and moving her few belongings. Belle also got a start on ordering the books in the library.

On Monday Belle and Leroy made a start with painting the library. Leroy wasn’t a very talkative person, but she did manage to pull a small smile out of him every once in a while. He wouldn’t be accompanying her to the Rabbit Hole for now, because he’d be spending the evenings with a woman called Astrid. She used to be a nun, but she had had a bit of a falling out with the Mother Superior. Leroy obviously had a thing for her, but he claimed he was just being a good friend.

Early in the afternoon on Wednesday they finished painting. Leroy told her he’d take Belle and Astrid to the Rabbit Hole Thursday evening - Ruby and a guy named Keith would be joining them as well - and then he was off.

Halfway through Thursday morning Belle finally finished ordering the books and she had moved the desk she had gotten from a thrift shop to the library.

Belle was admiring her library when Ariel stumbled in with a big box in her arms.

“Belle! You’ll never guess what I got for you!” Ariel exclaimed.

“Hey Ariel! What is it?”

Ariel put the box on the desk. “Ta-da!” she said with a flourish. “Regina - the Mayor - got us all new computers for the office, and I heard from Leroy that you’d like a computer for in the library, so I convinced her to donate one of the old ones to the library!”

“Oh my gosh, Ariel, that’s amazing! Thank you so much!” She looked into the box. It contained not just the screen and the computer, but also a mouse and keyboard. She hugged Ariel. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“It was shockingly easy to convince her. Apparently she’d heard some positive things about you from Henry.”

“I’ll need to thank them both as well, then,” Belle said still with a huge smile on her face.

Belle and Ariel talked about their week for a bit and exchanged phone numbers. They had just decided to go to Granny’s for lunch together, when Ariel said “By the way, I have several ideas on going about the mystery of Gold. Also, I think we should come up with a name for our mystery-solving-team.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and commenting, it makes my day everytime!
> 
> Also a big thank you to my beta, the wonderful [justrumbelledearie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrumbelledearie/pseuds/justrumbelledearie). Her work is amazing, go read it as well!
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> I don't own Once Upon a Time, just playing with the characters


	7. French & Finns: Finding and Facing Fantastical Fenomena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> French & Finns shenanigans! Belle and Ariel come up with a plan to find out if Mr. Gold really is a vampire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post this on Thursday again, sorry! Let's just pretend I posted this really late last night, ok? Ok.

_Belle and Ariel talked about their week for a bit and exchanged phone numbers. They had just decided to go to Granny’s for lunch together, when Ariel said “By the way, I have several ideas on going about the mystery of Gold. Also, I think we should come up with a name for our mystery-solving-team.”_

* * *

 

Belle stared at Ariel for a few moments. “A name?”

“Yes!” Ariel confirmed. “I thought we’d use ‘French & Finns’ as the business name, but we still need something as a catchy tagline, preferably something with an easy to remember acronym. I thought maybe something like ‘Exterminating Supernatural Pests’ or ‘ESP’. What do you think?”

Belle looked at Ariel’s hopeful expression. “You mean like a codename? So Gold doesn’t know we’re trying to expose him, and gets rid of us before we can exterminate him?”

“I actually meant for it to be our brand name, but a codename sounds like a very good idea as well! So, do you have any ideas for names?”

“Maybe something a bit less aggressive?” Belle offered. “If Gold’s not an evil vampire, we wouldn’t need to exterminate him after all. Maybe ‘Uncovering The Supernatural’, ‘UTS’ in short?”

“Mmmm. I don’t really like the capitalized ‘the’, but ‘US’ sounds a bit too nationalistic,” Ariel replied. “You know, I really like assonance or alliteration - whatever the one is with the same letters at the start of a word - and we already got that with our last names, so maybe we could come up with something that has every word start with an ‘f’ as well?”

“That’s alliteration. We could use ‘fantastical’ instead of ‘supernatural’,” Belle mused.

Ariel’s eyes lit up. “I knew this naming thing was a good idea! Maybe ‘Finding the Fantastical’?”

“I like it! Let’s see what else we can add on our way to Granny’s.”

Belle and Ariel continued to look for words with an ‘f’ to include during lunch at Granny’s. When they got back to the library, they had finally decided on a name.

“‘French & Finns: Finding and Facing Fantastical Fenomena’. I like it,” Ariel said.

“Me too,” Belle agreed. “Though I’m still not sure about writing ‘phenomena’ with an ‘f’. Alliteration is about the sound.”

“I know, but I think when you write it down it looks nicer like this, and it doesn’t matter when you say it out loud,” Ariel said, looking very pleased. “Now, let’s get on with Operation F6!”

“F6? That sounds like a jet fighter.”

“I know right? Nobody will have a clue what we’re really talking about!”

Belle shook her head. “Let’s hope the wrong people won’t find out.” She got excited at the thought of their next step. “Now, to find out if Gold is a vampire, we need to know classic vampire characteristics. The legends should be based on _something_ if vampires really exist, and if Gold is one, then he would probably display a few of those.”

“That’s what I thought as well. Stuff like turning into a bat and having no reflection.”

“Indeed. We can probably find a list with vampire characteristics on the internet. I think it would be hard to verify if Gold can turn into a bat - unless we catch him in the act - but it should be easy to find out if he has a reflection.”

“We can just walk in front of him and pretend to touch up our lipstick while holding a little mirror,” Ariel suggested. “Sunlight is an easy thing as well, but it doesn’t seem to affect him in any way.”

“I think people would have noticed if he sparkled in sunlight like the Twilight vampires as well,” Belle chuckled.

Ariel nodded her assent. “I don’t think they would be half as terrified of him if he did.”

“He’d have to rename his pawnshop to ‘All That Glitters Is Gold’,” Belle managed to get out in between her giggles.

Ariel burst out in laughter at this. “Do you think he would kill us if we doused him with glitter?”

“Let’s not risk it,” Belle said. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. “Okay. Let’s get on with the plan. I think we should also make a list of abnormal things people in this town have noticed, but that aren’t in any of the classical vampire stories. For example, I have never heard of vampires repelling cats and dogs. Do you know of any other things like that?”

“Nothing comes to mind but ordinary vampire stuff. Like how he doesn’t come out much in daylight. Even though he deals in antiques, he doesn’t seem to have any silver or things like crosses. If vampires have to be invited in, it makes sense for him to own the whole town. You don’t have to be invited into your own house.”

“That sounds really interesting!” Belle exclaimed. “If a vampire has to be invited in, who can invite him? Does it has to be the literal owner of the house, does it has to be the person living in the house, or can it be anybody who is already inside? Would he need a new invitation every time he wants to enter, or until the invitation is rescinded?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it matters much. As far as I know, the only person who owns her house, is Regina, and he never visits her,” Ariel said.

“If a vampire needs an invitation from the literal owner, he certainly has taken care of that.” Belle shuddered at the thought. “I think I’m going to put a cross and garlic next to my bed, just to be on the safe side.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and Gold is standing over you with a trail of blood dripping from his mouth. Where do you think I could get a stake?”

“I don’t know. You’d think that in a town where everyone is terrified of the local vampire stakes are sold on every corner. Or maybe the people are too afraid for open resistance like that.”

“Or maybe they don’t want to risk being wrong. In a TV show I watched the vampire wouldn’t die if their heart was pierced with a stake, but it would paralyze them. Even if you wouldn’t kill a vampire this way, if he’s human he would die. And you can’t stitch the hole, apologize, and expect to still be friends afterwards. Dead is dead.”

“You’re right,” Belle said. “Better not try anything that might be lethal to a vampire. You know what? I’ll go find a list on the internet of classic vampire characteristics, you try to think of any other things Gold does that are out of the ordinary. Once we have our list, we can come up with things that might confirm whether Gold is a vampire or not. Agreed?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Ariel responded.

It didn’t take Belle very long to find a Wikipedia page with a list of vampire characteristics. It was neatly ordered in different categories, like appearance and weaknesses, for the different books and movies they appeared in. She quickly worked through the list and wrote the characteristics that appeared more than once down in a notebook she had pulled out of her rucksack. In the ‘supernatural powers’ category there was a column dedicated to powers that were more unusual or that didn’t fit in any of the other categories. Some of them were listed several times, so she jotted those down as well. Walking on walls and ceilings wasn’t uncommon for vampires, apparently, and neither was the control over certain animals, like bats and wolves. There was also a book that claimed vampires can exhale a gas that causes unconsciousness in humans, or another in which vampires can turn invisible.

When Belle had a sizeable list to work with, she turned back to Ariel. “I think I have all the important stuff. Have you thought of more strange things surrounding our Golden Vampire?”

Ariel pulled on the sleeves of her shirt. “Other than the animals, I could only think of one thing, but it might be nothing. You see, one of the first times I was talking to Gold, I was really nervous and scared because of all the stories I’d heard. I was afraid to look him in the eyes, so I focused on his hands. I couldn’t see it very clearly, because of the lack of light in his shop, but the fingertips of his right hand seem to have some kind of mark on them. They were all the same, a thin, curved line. Do you think this could mean anything?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t read something like that anywhere. Was it like a tattoo?”

“Not really. I think it looked more like scars, actually. They were sort of white, and quite faint. Though if you haven’t found that anywhere, it’s not really useful information.” Ariel sighed and her shoulders sagged a bit, before she continued. “If they are scars, I wonder how he got them? From what I could see he had them on his index-, middle-, and ring finger.”

“Dunno,” Belle shrugged. She grinned at Ariel. “Maybe they aren’t even scars, but some weird Scottish gang tattoos.”

Ariel grinned back, before she turned serious again. “So, what are we going to do to find out if Gold really is a vampire? Are we going to start with finding out if he has a reflection?”

Belle turned the page in her notebook and wrote down ‘vampire-uncovering-to-do-list’ at the top. The first thing she added to the list was ‘mirror reflection.’

“I think that would be a logical first step. It’s easy to confirm, and if he doesn’t have a reflection, we know at least _something_ is going on. We can follow that up with taking his picture. In some stories, a vampire won’t show up if you try to take a picture of him.” She added this to the list as well.

Ariel hummed in agreement. She paged back to Belle’s list with vampires’ characteristics, specifically the weaknesses. “We can also offer him some silverware, or come into his shop with a grocery bag full of garlic. Decapitation, drowning, and setting him on fire all sound a little too final, so let’s not try that.”

“It’s going to be harder than I originally thought,” Belle said. She looked at the list as well. “Most of these are either impossible to prove, or they would be lethal, either for him or for us. For example, if blood is as hard for him to resist as it is for the vampires in Twilight, I wouldn’t want to witness his reaction to a paper cut.”

“Well, he never leaves his shop before six, so we could always break into his house during the day to find out if he sleeps in a coffin,” Ariel suggested. “Plus, I’ve always wondered what his house looked like on the inside.”

“We’d need help to pull that off,” Belle responded. “I don’t think it’s wise to break into his house alone, but we should also have someone distract Gold to make sure he doesn’t go home suddenly. Can you think of anyone crazy enough to help us either with the break-in or keep him occupied while we do that?”

Ariel didn’t have to think long, but she didn’t answer with the dejected ‘no’ Belle had expected.

“Henry would help us for sure.”

“You want to bring a kid into this?” Belle asked incredulously. “No, let me rephrase that: You want to bring the _Mayor’s_ kid into this? If that goes wrong, we won’t just have a vampire against us, but the Evil Queen as well.”

“Hush. You don’t know Henry. The kid is brilliant; he could pull this off. Besides, Gold likes him. He wouldn’t hurt Henry, so we have nothing to worry about.”

“I don’t think breaking into the vampire’s lair is something we should not worry about. Not just because it might be dangerous, but it’s illegal. If we get caught, we would also get in trouble with the law. Let’s keep that as a last option, okay?”

“You’re right.” Ariel sighed deeply. “I’m just so curious about the inside of his house. Did you know he lives in a pink house?”

“I did. I found out on my first day here actually. It was not what I had expected.”

“Indeed not…” Ariel trailed off. “Anyway, back to business. I think I can get help with pets to set on Gold to find out how different animals react to him.”

“You want to risk innocent animals for this?” Belle asked horrified.

“We’re going to make sure nothing happens to them!” Ariel assured Belle immediately. “If Gold asks, we’ll just say they’re strays we found. My friend Mary Margaret has a boyfriend who works at the animal shelter. We can probably borrow some animals.”

“Okay, but only if we’re very careful so the animals won’t get harmed.”

“Of course!” Ariel immediately agreed.

Belle wrote this in her notebook as well.

“Good. Now, on to research. While filing I found some logs from around the time the first Gold came here. Or when Gold first came here, whatever. Do you want to help me go through them?”

“Yes! Let’s get to work!”

Belle and Ariel worked diligently for a few hours, going back further and further in time. At last, Ariel let out a triumphant cry.

“I found something! Look, the passenger list for the ‘HMS Fortune’ has ‘Aonghus and Zoso Goldyn’ listed as passengers. ‘Goldyn’ is close enough to Gold, don’t you think? Especially when combined with ‘Aonghus’ again.”

“Yes, it probably is him,” Belle agreed. “Who do you think this Zoso is? What year is it? Could it be a strange pseudonym for his wife?”

“I don’t think so, it sounds more like a man’s name. Also, this log is from 1698. Maybe this is the one who turned Gold into a vampire?”

“That’s a very good suggestion! We should include that name in our further searches. I think we can stop going through the ship logs now. I highly doubt he would keep traveling between England and the US once he got here. Let’s assume that’s when Gold arrived in the US and expand our search to other logs. Maybe censuses outside of Storybrooke, enlistments for wars or stuff like that.”

“Can we find those here?” Ariel asked surprised.

“Probably not, but maybe some other libraries have digitalized records. As a librarian, I can probably access them.”

Belle and Ariel continued their search on the internet, both huddled behind the computer. A few local libraries had indeed digitalized some manuscripts, and for some it was even possible to search by name. ‘Aonghus’ and ‘Angus’ gave quite a lot of results, but when they entered Zoso, the number was far more manageable.

It turned out that Zoso was the one who founded Storybrooke in 1742. Belle and Ariel stared at each other for a few seconds, completely flabbergasted. They hadn’t expected Gold to know the founder of their village.

“I wonder if Zoso is still alive as well, somewhere,” Ariel whispered.

Belle could only nod in response.

They continued their search, but now they noticed the name Zoso turned up a few times as well. He returned to Storybrooke one last time in 1793, years after Milah and Beathan’s deaths. Ariel found a report that said that his mangled body was found in a bear’s cave, the bear found dead close by.

“That sounds awful,” Ariel exclaimed.

“It does,” Belle agreed. “If this is the same Zoso, then it’s safe to say he isn’t human, because I can’t see a human of over a hundred years old strolling into the forest and wrestling with a bear.”

“So you think Zoso turned Gold into a vampire?” Ariel asked.

“Probably. Maybe. I don’t know. I could include a research hunt at the opening of the library and include ‘find the founder of Storybrooke’. We could drop the name in Gold’s hearing range and see if it gets a reaction out of him.”

“If Zoso _is_ the one who turned him, it probably will. The bond between Maker and Progeny is quite strong from what I gather from several TV shows about vampires.”

Belle added it to her little notebook. “Okay, that’s added to our ‘vampire-uncovering-to-do-list’.”

“Good.” Ariel looked at her watch. “You know, I think we spent enough time with our noses buried in these records. How about we cross the road and see if we can capture Gold’s reflection?”

“Let’s come up with a plan first,” Belle said. They stared at each other, deep in thought. After several minutes, Belle lit up. “I have a budget to acquire new books, and I saw some that were of interest in Gold’s shop. Maybe I can lure him to the book section and distract him, while you get your mirror to check if he has a reflection?”

“That should work. Let’s do it!”

“Yes! Operation F6 is a go!” Belle cheered.

Ariel and Belle put the books back, locked up the library and headed to the other side of the road, giggling and making plans to meet up again tomorrow. They turned quiet when they entered the shop.

“I didn’t even know Gold sold books,” Ariel whispered to Belle.

“They’re in the far corner,” Belle whispered back. “I noticed them last week when I was browsing the shop.”

“I’m pretty sure the only stuff that people see is what they have to walk by on their way to the counter. I’ve never heard of anyone who actually _browses_ the shop. Maybe Henry.”

“But look at all the pretty things!” Belle exclaimed.

“Hush!” Ariel half-whispered with a finger over her lips.

“Sorry! Why are we even whispering in the first place?” Belle asked, right as they reached the book section.

“I don’t know. Seems like the thing to do in solemn places,” Ariel answered. At Belle’s puzzled frown she expanded: “You know, churches, graveyards, a vampire lair.”

Belle chuckled and shook her head. She turned her attention to the books in front of her. She was almost cooing over them, with an amused Ariel watching her.

“Miss Finns, Miss French,” Gold greeted them. “Can I help you with anything?”

Belle turned around to face Gold. Judging from Ariel’s face, Belle wasn’t the only one who could still get surprised by his silent approach even when more or less expecting him.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Gold,” Belle and Ariel said at the same time. They looked at each other and grinned.

Belle looked back to Gold and added: “How are you?”

Gold looked surprised at the question for a second. “Good. Were you looking for a specific book?”

“Not really,” Belle answered. “The library has a budget for new books, and I remembered seeing a few that interested me here. We have an extensive collection of rare books in the library archives.”

Gold nodded. “Indeed. A lot of the rare first editions have been donated to the library by the Gold family.”

“That’s so very generous of your family! I think it’s good the next generation gets to read the old classics. Books are very important to our culture, wouldn’t you agree?”

Belle thought she sounded almost hopeful at the end, but after the disaster with Gaston, she felt like she couldn’t handle another person casually brushing the importance of books away. Luckily, she wouldn’t need to worry about that with Mr. Gold.

“Indeed they are. My family has always held books in high regards. When a competent librarian would come along, we would donate one of our precious books to the library as thanks.”

Belle had been staring at Gold’s eyes. They were a beautiful shade of brown - far better than the red or gold in Twilight - and they seemed to light up during his enthusiastic talking. She grinned at him. “Message received loud and clear, sir.”

Gold looked confused. He really should stop doing that. It was just too cute, in Belle’s opinion.

“Mr. Gold, I’m going to dazzle you with my skills as a librarian, and then I’ll have a shot at acquiring one of those pretty books.”

“Oh. Yes. That’s what I meant.” Gold cleared his throat and shifted his weight slightly. Belle was impressed how completely his demeanor seemed to change with such a small movement, going back from the confused cutie to the confident owner of the town - with maybe a pinch of ‘ruler of the night’ as well.

“I’m sorry they aren’t for sale. I keep them here, because almost nobody ever comes to this part of the shop, and even if they do, they aren’t interested in dusty old books.”

“Their loss, I suppose,” Belle shrugged. “Well, it’s time for me to go then. I think I’ll see you on Monday.”

Belle turned in the direction of the door. She noticed Ariel, who she’d all but forgotten about during her conversation about books with Gold.

Gold pivoted around as well, looking a little less graceful than normally. “Why?” He asked.

“Why what?” Belle asked over her shoulder, biting her lip at the sight of Gold all confused again.

“Why am I seeing you on Monday?” Gold grumbled out. Apparently he wasn’t used to being in the dark about anything (and wasn’t that hilarious if indeed he was a vampire?).

Belle smiled at Gold. “For the opening of the library, of course.” She didn’t add the ‘silly’, but she was more or less sure he would be able to hear her think it. “I’m sure someone as fond of books as you would be there first thing in the morning. I hope you’ll like the changes I made.”

Belle shot him another dazzling smile - judging by the blush that was creeping up his cheeks, she was succeeding at least a little in dazzling him - and she grabbed Ariel to leave the shop.

Once they were outside and the door of Gold’s shop was closed as well, Ariel stopped Belle and hugged her. Belle hugged her back, feeling a bit confused.

“What was that for?”

“I have _never_ seen anyone handle Gold like that before!” Ariel gushed. “Not even Emma, and she can deal with him pretty well!”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how to explain it. He seems more human when talking to you, I suppose. Less cold, _far_ less calculating. Normally it’s like he knows _everything_ that’s happening around him, but he was completely focused on you. I’m sure he didn’t even notice I took pictures of him as well!”

“Oh yes! The mirror! I’m sorry, I’d completely forgotten about the whole Operation!” Belle apologized. “Did it work? Does he have a reflection?”

“He does. At first I couldn’t get the angle right, but Gold definitely has a reflection.”

“What do you mean ‘you couldn’t get the angle right’?”

“The mirror kept reflecting his ass.”

“The mirror did that, huh?” Belle said with a smirk. “Those custom-made-pants really show his _ass_ ets, don’t they?”

“Wait, what? Have you been checking Gold out?”

“You did too! You just said so yourself!” Belle defended herself.

“Because I don’t understand how to angle a mirror! Oh my God, Belle! This is -”

“You said you made photos as well?” Belle quickly interrupted Ariel.

“You’re not changing the subject so easily, lady!” Ariel warned while she dug up her phone. “I don’t know how well they’ve turned out, because it was pretty dark and I couldn’t use flash.”

Ariel and Belle look at the photo’s together, but all of them were too grainy to make anything out.

“Too bad,” Belle sighed.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’d have liked a few photos of Gold.”

“No teasing. You have to admit he isn’t doing too bad in the looks department.”

“He’s old. Maybe even centuries,” Ariel said. At Belle’s sigh, she continued. “I never really noticed before, but when he talked to you, he looked like a different man. I could see how you could be attracted to that man.”

Belle shot Ariel a smile, grateful that she wouldn’t make fun of her for her sometimes quirky tastes.

When they were halfway across the road on their way to Granny’s, they saw a mob standing in front of the sheriff’s office. They walked back and turned in that direction.

Ariel asked someone what was going on. The man turned around, looking scared. “A body has been found in the woods near the Toll Bridge. Apparently, it wasn’t a hiking accident.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about that ending! 
> 
> Next week: Belle and Ariel try to find out more about the body found in the woods.
> 
> A big thank you to my wonderful beta [justrumbelledearie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrumbelledearie/pseuds/justrumbelledearie)!
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> None of this belongs to me!


	8. The Informant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ariel takes Belle to an unexpected source for some inside information

Last time:  
 _When they were halfway across the road on their way to Granny’s, they saw a mob standing in front of the sheriff’s office. They walked back and turned in that direction._

_Ariel asked someone what was going on. The man turned around, looking scared. “A body has been found in the woods near the Toll Bridge. Apparently, it wasn’t a hiking accident.”_

* * *

 “Are you saying there’s been a murder?” Belle asked, shocked.

“That’s the word going around,” the man answered. “We’re here to demand answers from Graham.”

The man turned his back to Belle and Ariel again.

“Who’s Graham?” Belle asked Ariel.

“You haven’t met him yet? Graham’s the sheriff.”

“Emma is the only law enforcement officer I’ve come across,” Belle said. “You think he’ll say anything? I thought police couldn’t disclose any information about an ongoing investigation.”

“They can’t. Not officially, at least.” Ariel stood on her toes, trying to see over the crowd. “Drat! Why am I so short? I can’t see anything!”

“Sorry, I won’t be of help with that,” Belle giggled. She slapped her hand over her mouth. “I shouldn’t laugh if there’s been a murder.”

Ariel sighed. “We won’t find out anything if we stay here. Let’s see if our informant knows anything.”

“We have an informant?” Belle asked. She jogged a bit to catch up with Ariel. “Who? And where are we going?”

“Henry, of course,” Ariel answered. “He’s probably in his castle.”

Belle looked very skeptical. “Why would anyone tell a kid something like this? And what do you mean with ‘his castle’?”

“Oh, nobody would have _told_ him. If he knows anything, then it’s because the sneaky kid has been hiding somewhere in the sheriff’s office. He does that when Regina is mad at Emma over something and won’t let him see her.”

“I suppose in a town where normally nothing ever happens, that isn’t such a big deal,” Belle mused.

“No, the most important thing he ever witnessed was when Emma put Gold in jail. He made a picture, but Gold paid him to destroy it.”

“Why did she put Gold in jail?” Belle asked. “I bet a lot of people would pay to see that picture.”

“They would,” Ariel replied with a grin. “Hell, _I_ would. People say he put a guy who couldn’t pay his rent in the hospital, but the guy said he fell down the stairs, so Gold was released. Rumor has it that he didn’t have to pay his rent for a few months after that.”

“That does sound sort of… gangster-like. So where’s Henry’s castle?”

“Close to the docks,” Ariel pointed in the general direction they were taking. “It’s a playground, but nobody really goes there since the bigger one’s been built close to the forest. I found Henry in a structure that resembles a castle there one day when I was walking Max - that’s my boyfriend Eric’s dog.”

The rest of the walk to Henry’s castle was spent talking about Eric. He worked in the local cannery - rented by Ariel’s father from Gold - and he was one of the reasons Ariel decided to quit working for her father so she could live her life her way. Not long after she had started dating Eric she moved to Storybrooke permanently.

“At first Father acted very difficult about the whole thing, but after a while he realized this is what I really wanted. Now he comes to visit Eric and me here on his days off,” Ariel concluded.

Belle squeezed Ariel’s hand. “I’m so glad your story has a happy ending!”

They reached the playground. “Perfect timing as well,” Belle added.

“Henry!” Ariel called out. “Are you here?”

Henry peeked out of the ‘castle’. “Hi Ariel, Miss Belle. What’s up?”

Belle thought he looked like he’d been crying. She exchanged a worried look with Ariel. “Henry, is everything okay?”

“Not really,” he sniffled. “But I can’t talk about it.”

“Oh sweetheart,” Ariel pulled him into a hug. “You can tell us _anything_. Has someone hurt you?”

“No, it’s not like that,” Henry quickly assured them. “I don’t know if you heard yet, but Mr. Peabody’s body was found in the woods.”

“Oh poor boy! He was your teacher, wasn’t he?” Ariel hugged Henry closer to her chest. “I thought he was ill?”

“He called in sick a few days ago. His neighbor wanted to bring him some soup yesterday, but when she didn’t find him at home, she called Graham. I didn’t know Mom and Graham had been looking for him since last night. When Mom - Regina - said I couldn’t go see Emma today, I thought she was angry over something again. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop at the station. I swear!”

“Of course you didn’t!” Belle petted Henry’s hair. “I don’t think anybody would think that. What happened? Did you sneak away, or did they see you? We can’t have them worry about your whereabouts as well.”

“Mom heard me. She was really angry, so I ran here,” Henry said. He looked down, trying to hide his tears.

Ariel sat down and pulled Henry on her lap. At first he struggled a bit, mumbling he was too big to sit on somebody’s lap, but he quickly gave up and snuggled up to Ariel. Belle sat down next to them to rub Henry’s back. It seemed to help calm him down.

“I’m sure she’s not really angry with you, Henry,” Ariel told him. “She was probably worried you’d be upset with what you’d just heard. She wouldn’t have wanted you to find out in such a way. Not to mention the details that you shouldn’t have heard. I can’t imagine Graham and Emma mincing their words in the sheriff’s office.”

Henry nodded. “You’re probably right. Can you call her to say I’m safe? And also that I’m sorry?”

“Of course. You sit here with Belle.”

Ariel stood up and took her phone out to call Emma. Henry shyly scooted closer to Belle. She put an arm around him and placed his head on her shoulder.

“So, Henry,” Belle started. “Why don’t you tell me all about that wonderful book you brought up a few days ago?”

Henry perked up just thinking about it, though traces of sadness could still be seen in his eyes.

“It _is_ a wonderful book! It starts with the wedding of Snow and Prince Charming, but -”

“It starts with their wedding?” Belle asked puzzled.

“Yeah, you get the rest of their story in flashbacks, Snow White really kicks ass. The Evil Queen interrupts their wedding and from then on all the fairytale princesses work together to stop her from casting the Curse. Should I tell you everything? Mom says I can’t spoil things for people who want to read or watch something themselves.”

“This sounds like something I’d like to read. Why don’t you tell me who your favorite character is and why?”

“All of the princesses, really, because they’re all so amazing. They fight for their happy ending and they are just as awesome as the princes. Except for Cinderella.”

“What’s wrong with Cinderella?” Belle asked surprised.

“She signed a contract with Rumplestiltskin without reading it, but she told everyone he tricked her. Now he is locked up in a dungeon somewhere and Belle doesn’t know what happened to him.”

“Seriously, who signs a contract without reading it?” Belle huffed. Henry nodded his agreement.

“So what happens to Rumplestiltskin? Does he get out?”

“I don’t know! That happens close to the end of the first book. I can’t wait for the library to open again so I can read the second book!”

Belle smiled at his enthusiasm. “Just a few more days! Though maybe I can be bribed to take it out early for you.” She grinned wickedly. “For a price.”

“You sound like Mr. Gold,” Henry smiled at Belle. “Do you think Mom’s going to lock him up again?”

“Why would she do that?” Ariel butted in. She put her phone back in her purse and sat down on Henry’s other side.

Henry slapped his hands over his mouth.

“Henry?” Ariel sounded worried now.

“You can’t tell anyone. You have to promise you won’t tell!” Henry demanded.

“Henry, why would Emma lock Mr. Gold up? Did he hurt you?” Ariel calmly asked.

“What? No! Mr. Gold wouldn’t hurt me. It’s just… Everybody says… Because of the vampire thing…” Henry trailed of.

“What’s with the vampire thing, Henry?” Belle asked.

Henry took a deep breath. “Mom said it looked like Mr. Peabody’s body had been drained.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's reading this/leaving kudo's/commenting. It really means a lot to me!


	9. Looking in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the conversation with Henry, and the events following that.

Last time:

_“Henry, why would Emma lock Mr. Gold up? Did he hurt you?” Ariel calmly asked._

_“What? No! Mr. Gold wouldn’t hurt me. It’s just… Everybody says… Because of the vampire thing…” Henry trailed of._

_“What’s with the vampire thing, Henry?” Belle asked._

_Henry took a deep breath. “Mom said it looked like Mr. Peabody’s body had been drained.”_

* * *

Belle looked at Henry like he’d grown a second head. Surely she’d misheard him. Normal people didn’t move to small towns only to find out a _vampire_ was on the loose, killing people left and right, leaving them drained in the forest. She noticed that next to her, Ariel looked just as confused – and slightly scared – as she felt. Henry looked completely miserable, and it occurred to Belle he was probably waiting for a reaction. She racked her brain for something, but her books had never mentioned how to comfort a young boy who had just lost his teacher to a vampire.

“I doubt your mom will put Mr. Gold in jail, Henry,” Ariel tried. “Everybody in town believes he’s a vampire, so he wouldn’t be so obvious about it.”

Belle thought it wasn’t the most reassuring thing to say, but it was better than nothing.

“You mean everybody in town knows _he_ ’s a vampire,” Henry corrected.

“Oh, Henry,” Belle sighed. “Vampires aren’t real. You know that. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for what happened to -”

“Why did you emphasize ‘he’ instead of ‘knows’, Henry?” Ariel interrupted Belle.

Belle shot a confused look at Ariel, but Ariel had her eyes fixed on Henry. She looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“Because Mr. Gold isn’t the only vampire in town.”

Henry looked completely miserable as he said this. An alarm started going off in Belle’s head.

“He turned me this weekend, but I can’t control the thirst yet.”

As Henry added this, his eyes turned black and fangs started to grow. He pounced on Ariel and blood spouted everywhere.

Belle lurched upright in her bed, panting as if she’d run a marathon. Her alarm was blaring; she must have forgotten to reset it after her night in the Rabbit Hole. She turned it off and flopped down on the pillows. It was far too early to get up after the late night she’d had, but she wasn’t going back to sleep after a nightmare like that.

With a deep sigh, Belle got out of bed. She dragged herself to the kitchen to get a pot of coffee going. Normally she’d prefer tea, but she had a feeling she was going to need a lot of caffeine this day.

Because it had been a weekday, Belle and the others hadn’t meant to stay late at the Rabbit Hole, but the whole town had been in an uproar yesterday and everybody had needed a good time.

Belle had met a lot of new people. She had expected to be regarded with a lot of suspicion - the murder had happened after she got in town - but apparently she didn’t look like a threat _at all_. Somehow, she was a bit offended by this.

When Belle poured her first cup of coffee, her mind went back to the conversation with Henry on the beach. Ariel’s attempt to reassure Henry by telling him that Gold wouldn’t kill someone in a way the whole town would suspect of him surprisingly hadn’t worked. Henry had thought Ariel meant that someone would keep killing until Gold was behind bars just to frame him. It had taken Belle and Ariel some time to convince Henry a lot of research had to be done first, and that it still could have been some kind of accident.

On their way back to the mayor’s office to drop Henry off with Regina, they had stopped at ‘Any Given Sundae’ to help cheer Henry up again. What had really brought a smile back to his face, though, was the stop at the library to give him early access to the second book in the ‘Once Upon a Time’ series.

After Belle and Ariel had returned Henry to a very worried Regina - Belle managed to squeeze in a ‘thank you for the computers’ between the Mayor’s relieved ‘thank you’s’- they had agreed to meet for lunch again the next day.

Belle had stopped at the convenience store to get some groceries on her way back to the apartment. She’d bought a big bag of garlic as well – just in case. The shop owner, Mr. Clark, hadn’t even blinked when he’d seen the garlic, though he had sneezed more than usual.

Belle had forgotten all about the garlic in her haste to make dinner. After she’d taken a shower, she had stood in front of her closet to pick out an outfit for her night in the Rabbit Hole when she had remembered she had a crucifix somewhere. It had taken her a few minutes to find it – creating a mess with all the stuff she had thrown everywhere from the boxes containing her possessions she hadn’t yet found a place for.

The crucifix was now placed on Belle’s nightstand, and she hoped it would repel vampires, if they indeed existed. Belle had also decorated all the windowsills and doorframes with garlic in her paranoia.

After Belle had secured her house against a vampire attack she’d put on her clothes and then she’d lost herself in a book - resulting in a mad dash on heels to the Rabbit Hole.

Belle’s daring look - a blue top with open back and a _very_ plunging neck line, a simple black skirt, and killer heels - had had the desired effect of making Leroy take back his words that she looked every bit the part of the proper, small town librarian. He’d even gone so far as to say that she’d changed from ‘Bookish Belle’ to ‘Racy Lacey’.

Leroy had introduced Belle to Astrid - later that night Leroy and Astrid had officially become a couple - and to Keith, whose eyes had lingered where they shouldn’t.

While Belle sipped from her coffee she wondered if all tall men were like that in Storybrooke. She couldn’t help comparing them to Mr. Gold, who always made eye contact when talking with her. He was supposed to be a vampire, though. None of the men in Storybrooke were perfect, it seemed.

Belle’s mind drifted back to the night before. After her first few minutes in the Rabbit Hole, it had become clear to her that the only thing people could talk about was the death of Mr. Peabody. This she had expected. What she hadn’t expected, was the amount of information available.

Keith was apparently one of Graham’s deputies, and after Keith had had a few drinks, he’d spilled everything he knew about the case.

Belle shivered as she remembered how Keith had told everyone in the bar with great detail about Mr. Peabody’s many injuries. She certainly could have done without the vivid picture he had sketched of the broken body. What had shocked people the most, had been when he had told them about the small puncture wounds in Mr. Peabody’s neck. Forensics still had to confirm it, but Graham and he thought there had been saliva on those wounds.

Someone has asked Keith if this meant Gold really was a vampire. Keith had answered that Gold was the prime suspect. He’d reasoned “Who else would do something like this?”

After that a mob had formed, and the people had been about to go find Gold to stake him. Luckily, someone had tipped Emma off and the deputy had come in at precisely the right time. She’d somehow been able to calm everyone down.

Belle sighed deeply, before standing up to get more coffee. She was very impressed with Emma’s speech and the way she had handled everything. Emma had also given Keith a very public dressing down. She’d told Keith she’d take him off the case - apparently there was some history between him and Mr. Gold - before she’d marched him off to the station so he could sober up.

When everyone had calmed down, Belle had played a few games of pool with Ruby. They’d silently agreed to talk about something more cheerful than death and decay, so they’d discussed their favorite TV shows and actors. After a while Leroy and Astrid had joined them at the pool table.

Belle groaned and took a sip of her coffee when she remembered the drinking game Leroy had come up with for her and Ruby. Both of them were pretty good at pool, but Leroy’s game had involved taking a shot every time they didn’t pocket a ball. Needless to say, by the time they left the Rabbit Hole Belle and Ruby had been completely smashed as they had missed more and more.

After a while Leroy and some guy she’d never seen before - and whose name she had forgotten - had joined for a couple of games, but by that time Ruby and Belle had already had so much to drink that it wasn’t really a competition for the guys anymore.

Belle felt slightly miffed about that; she could be very competitive. Back at her favorite bar in Urbana-Champaign she’d made it a game of putting on her most innocent look and then challenged people to a game of pool. People often underestimated her skills in pool, and she had really enjoyed emptying the wallets of guys who thought they could easily beat her at the game because she was a woman.

A look at the clock revealed Belle had been sitting at her kitchen table longer than she’d thought. She wanted to take a walk along the beach before meeting Ariel for lunch, so she rinsed her mug and took a shower.

Belle locked her door and was about to set off in the direction of the docks, when the sight of Gold’s shop across the road reminded her of Ruby’s attempt to coax out some tidbits about her love life. Luckily, despite her inebriated state she had managed not to blurt out that she liked Gold. Or thought he was attractive. Or whatever she thought about the man. She felt like it wouldn’t be the best thing to say under the circumstances.

After dawdling for about five seconds, Belle decided to visit Gold’s shop. This was, of course, because she was worried for the man. People had been willing to kill him last night, and she just wanted to see if he was okay.

Halfway across the road Belle noticed the man who had joined Ruby, Leroy and her for a game of pool. She still couldn’t remember his name. He was wearing way too many clothes for a hot summer day in Maine. The man was shielding himself against the sun, like it was hurting him. Belle could vaguely remember him drinking more in the short time he was playing pool with them than she had during the whole night. If he had continued in that pace, he must have a killer headache by now.

She shrugged it off and continued on towards Gold’s shop. The sign on the door said ‘Open’, and Belle thought that was a good sign. She walked in - making sure to jingle the bell this time - and walked in the direction of the counter.

Belle didn’t get far before she got distracted by all the interesting items around her. She noticed a bike hanging from the ceiling, beautifully decorated beer steins, and a cradle mobile with unicorns. The puppets sitting on one of the shelves still gave her the creeps, and she quickly walked past them. She saw a new - or at least new in the shop - gramophone on the counter. She walked towards it, when she heard a rustle from her left.

Belle looked in that direction, and the sight of Gold calmly walking out of the backroom shocked her more than if he had sneaked up on her again. He smiled at her. Not his usual smirk, but a real, _proper_ smile - even though it was only a little one.

Gold’s smile fell and turned into a worried frown when Belle stayed silent after his greeting. “Are you alright, Miss French?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine,” Belle answered. Gold continued frowning, so she added “I’m just surprised to actually see your approach. Normally you just appear out of nowhere right behind me.”

Belle can see Gold forcibly keep the smirk off his face, but his eyes twinkled with mirth. He must really like sneaking up on people if just the memory was enough to almost make him smile.

Then he sighed. “I thought I’d better be on my best behavior after the events of yesterday.”

“Did Emma drop by to warn you for the mob from the Rabbit Hole?” Belle asked.

“You know about that?” Gold seemed surprised by this. “Did you also get thwarted on your quest to slay the beast by Deputy Swan?” He put his hand on his heart and gasped in mock hurt, but Belle thought she saw a flash of real hurt - followed by resignation - in his eyes.

“You’re not a beast,” Belle countered. “I mean, you haven’t given me reason to think you are.”

“You’re kind to an old monster.”

Belle bit her lip. “Are you really a vampire?”

“Don’t tell me you still believe in ghost stories, Miss French,” Gold laughed.

Blushing, Belle defended herself. “Everyone in this town seems to believe in vampires. Besides, it’s understandable to have doubts after the details Keith released about the wounds.”

“Or it’s just some lunatic trying to reenact Twilight,” Gold grumbled.

“The vampires in Twilight don’t have fangs,” Belle informed Gold with a frown. “Also, those are supposed to be good vampires.”

“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t read the books nor seen the movies. I think ‘good vampires’ are more of a modern thing. Vampires used to be the terrifying monsters in horror movies.”

Gold hesitated here. Belle tried to wordlessly communicate for him to continue. “Why did you mention the fangs from the Twilight vampires?” Gold blurted out.

“You haven’t heard about all the details Keith spouted last night?”

“I try to ignore most things that idiot says,” Gold said tightly.

“After last night, I can see why,” Belle muttered darkly. She thought Gold couldn’t possibly have heard her, but his sudden smirk proved otherwise.

Belle suddenly remembered Emma mentioned a history between Gold and Keith. “Why does Keith dislike you so much?”

“He doesn’t dislike me. He hates me,” Gold chuckled. “He blames me for his ex-girlfriend leaving him.”

Belle looked puzzled. “Why would he blame you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he thinks I hypnotized her,” Gold shrugged. “Why -”

“Why,” Belle started at the same time. She smiled at Gold, and was about to continue, when he interrupted her.

“Oh no, Miss French. First you’re answering my question. Why did you mention the fangs?”

Belle bit her lip and looked down at her feet. “Sorry, I forgot you asked about that.” She looked up again, before continuing. “Keith mentioned Mr. Peabody had puncture marks on his neck.”

Gold seemed really surprised by this. He frowned, and seemed to sink deep into his thoughts. Something about him made Belle think he knew more about what was going on - and he hadn’t expected the puncture wounds. That seemed ridiculous. She didn’t think he was the killer, so why would he know anything about this? As the silence dragged on, his confusion turned to anger. His whole body tensed, and he seemed to be barely able to contain his rage.

For the first time, Belle felt scared. She suddenly became aware that during their talk, their positions had switched, and Gold was between her and the exit. She wondered what she should do. Gold seemed deep in thought, so maybe she could just walk away without him noticing.

Belle had just decided to try that, when Gold snapped out of it. He turned his gaze back to her, and she gasped at the whirlwind of emotions in that look. “Mr. Gold?” she uttered shakily.

“It seems someone is trying to frame me,” Gold stated.

Belle felt a little thrown with this sudden declaration. Gold noticed this, so he explained “Because of my… reputation in this town, most people would see me as the first suspect.”

“It’s more like a _very_ obvious set up,” Belle huffed.

Gold’s smile made another appearance - Belle decided she liked his smile. “Or it’s a double bluff. Maybe I use my reputation to make myself the most obvious suspect. Everyone assumes I’m being set up, so I can continue murdering people in peace.” Gold shot Belle a predatory grin. “Not very wise of you to enter the monster’s lair on your own, Miss French.”

He stepped closer to her, licking his lips and making a comment about dinner, but Belle saw right through him. The way he had stepped in towards her, had left an opening towards the door, as if he wanted her to escape. She didn’t know _why_ he was trying to scare her away from him, but she _knew_ he wasn’t genuinely threatening her. Or at least she hoped so.

Belle decided to do the brave thing, praying that she was right about Gold. She took a step closer to Gold and gave him a light slap to his shoulder. “Stop that,” she admonished him. “You shouldn’t try to scare people like that after what happened yesterday.”

Gold jerked away from her, looking completely baffled. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, before he nodded, mumbled an apology, turned around, and fled into his backroom.

Belle stared at the curtain through which Gold had disappeared. She walked in the direction of the curtain, trying to process what had just happened. She knocked on the wall next to it, calling out to Gold. When she didn’t receive a response, she stuck her head through the curtain.

In the backroom it was even darker than in the shop, and it took a moment for Belle’s eyes to adjust. The backroom was just as filled with various objects as the shop, but Belle ignored all the interesting knickknacks and found Gold slumped down in a chair with his head resting on his arms on a table. He turned his head so he could look at her, a frown on his face. He looked a bit like a grumpy cat.

As the silence between them dragged on, Gold stood up and made a gesture for Belle to join him. She set off in his direction, hoping she wouldn’t trip on anything.

When Belle had almost reached Gold, she walked into something, sending not only herself but also something that sounded very breakable crashing to the ground. Gold caught her by her left shoulder and right elbow. He set her upright again and quickly released her. He muttered something and walked past her, and suddenly the room was flooded with light.

Belle squinted against the brightness. When her eyes got used to it, she looked behind to see what had caused her to trip. She had walked into a tray with a porcelain tea set on it. One of the tea cups lay on the ground. She bent down to pick it up. It was white with a golden rim and a blue flower motif, and now added to that was a very noticeable chip. She heard a creak behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Gold was now behind her. She slowly straightened up and turned around to face Gold - or as close to facing him as she dared at the moment, not managing to look him in the eye.

Belle kept her gaze on the knot of his tie. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Gold, but, uh…” Belle took a deep breath to gather her courage before holding the cup out for his inspection. “It’s… it’s chipped. You… you can hardly see it.”

Belle finally lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. She bit her lip, awaiting his reaction with thundering heart.

Gold looked at the cup in her hands before looking back to Belle. “Oh, it’s just a cup.”

Belle released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Gold held out his hand for the cup, and Belle gave it to him with shaky fingers. He put it back on its tray, and he placed the tray on a counter next to a door she only now noticed.

“Do you want to sit down?” Gold asked while holding a chair out for her.

Belle mumbled a ‘thank you’ and plopped down in the chair. Gold slowly walked around the table, keeping his eyes on her the whole time - as if _she_ might be the dangerous one. He graciously sat down on his own chair.

“Miss French,” Gold began. He shook his head, and said “Why did you come to my shop today?”

Belle wondered what he’d originally intended to ask. She then focused on what he _had_ asked. He’d probably laugh if she’d say she wanted to see if he was alright, but she hadn’t come up with something in advance, and her mind was still trying to process everything that had happened after he’d tried to scare her away. She decided to settle for “I don’t remember,” but she feared her blush might give away that it was a lie.

Gold’s eyes indeed stray to her cheeks, and he wetted his lips. Belle was sure this time it is a subconscious gesture. His gaze returned to her eyes. “Are you…” Gold cleared his throat and looked down at his fidgeting hands. “Are you here to check up on me?”

Belle’s blush deepened as she nodded her assent.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Belle asked confused.

“For caring.”

“People said they were going to _kill_ you!” Belle burst out. “Of course I was worried!”

“Everyone here has told you I am a _vampire_. Someone is killed by a vampire. Why did you even come in here?”

“Just because everyone says something is true, doesn’t mean it is. I mean, once upon a time it was believed the earth was flat. And, like you said, vampires don’t exist.”

Gold grimaced. “You’re very careless with your own safety.”

Belle huffed indignantly. “I am not.”

“You are. Why didn’t you run away earlier? When I said you were going to be dinner?”

“You were trying too hard!” Belle scoffed.

Gold shook his head. “Miss French,” he started. “If somebody _is_ trying to frame me for murder, then it is not safe here in Storybrooke.”

“Are you telling me to leave town? That’s not going to happen.”

“Fine,” Gold sighed. “At least be careful then. Take proper precautions.”

“Like what?” Belle asked. “Decorate my house with garlic?”

“Stop talking nonsense. Garlic isn’t going to stop anybody. Don’t go out alone after dark. Not going out at all is even better. Do you have an American passport?”

“Yes,” Belle answered unsurely.

“Then be a proper American and get yourself a gun.”

“Are you serious? I’d probably be more of a danger to myself than any possible attacker.”

“Then ask someone to teach you.”

At her incredulous look, Gold added “If you don’t know anyone who could teach you, I’d be willing.”

“For a price of course,” Belle finished. “Where do I even get a gun?”

“Your promise to be careful would be enough,” Gold said. “I have several guns you could get if you decide to get your permit.”

Belle bit her lip to hide her smile. “You’re not at all like people say you are. And I’m glad.”

Gold looked down - letting his hair disguise most of his blush - when they heard the loud tingling of the bell in the shop and the door smashed closed.

“Belle!” Ariel shouted from the other side of the curtain. “Are you here?”

Belle jumped up from her chair - a look to her watch revealed it was ten minutes past the time she was supposed to meet with Ariel. She offered an apology to Gold and walked back into the shop, almost crashing into Ariel.

A second later Ariel crashed into her anyway, hugging Belle so tightly she wasn’t sure she could breathe properly.

Ariel released Belle, and by then Gold had appeared as well, and Belle noticed the baseball bat in Ariel’s hand. When Ariel saw Gold looking at the baseball bat, she quickly hid it behind her back, mumbling something about a game with Henry.

“Miss Finns. How nice of you to crash into my shop. Can I help you with anything?”

“I was just looking for Belle,” Ariel said with wide eyes. “We’re going to have lunch.”

“Then I won’t delay you any longer. Good day, Miss Finns. Miss French, please consider my offer.”

“I will, Mr. Gold,” Belle nodded. Ariel tugged on her arm, and started dragging her towards the door. “Bye!” Belle yelled over her shoulder.

Outside, Ariel turned around to face Belle as she crossed her arms. “I was _so_ worried! You never showed up and Ruby said she hadn’t seen you since you left the Rabbit Hole.”

“I’m sorry, Ariel!” Belle immediately apologized. “I hadn’t expected to be in there for so long.”

“What were you doing in the backroom anyway?” Ariel asked curiously. “And what deal was Gold talking about? You know you shouldn’t make deals with him, right?”

Belle rolled her eyes. She thought making deals with Gold would probably go a lot better if people would read the contracts instead of just signing them. “He was worried about this killer walking around. He told me to get a gun.”

“Oh. Wow. That was unexpected. I didn’t even know he could feel human emotions like worry.”

Shaking her head, Belle grabbed Ariel’s hand and tugged her in the direction of Granny’s. “Let’s get something to eat.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Ariel laughed. “We can discuss how to proceed for Operation F6. I propose we work twice as hard to find out if Gold is a vampire.”

“I don’t think Gold killed Mr. Peabody, Ariel.”

“I don’t think so either; he’s too smart to be this obvious. If Gold would kill someone, we wouldn’t even _have_ a body. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a vampire, though.”

“And if he _is_ a vampire, maybe he could help!” Belle finished the thought.

“Yes! Now let’s start brainstorming!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit later and I don't have any chapters written in advance anymore, sorry! RL has been hectic lately. I'll try to update at least once every two weeks (I think I should be able to manage that), but I can't make any promises.
> 
> Thanks everyone who's reading this, leaving kudos, and/or commenting!


	10. Pet Plague

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle, Ariel and Henry unleash all the pets they can find on Gold to find out if they treat him differently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was late! Enjoy!

Looking at the clock, Belle wondered if it was too late to call the whole thing off. Today was the official opening of the library, and it was decorated with balloons and banners. Belle was feeling nervous, but it wasn’t because of the library opening. Ariel was standing just around the corner - out of sight from Gold’s pawnshop - waiting to set a cat loose on Gold.

Belle and Ariel had spent a great part of the weekend trying to get a decent picture of Gold. When even the pictures made with Glass’s professional camera - Ariel had ‘borrowed’ it when he was discussing something with Regina - turned out grainy, they’d had to concede defeat. It seemed impossible to make a decent picture of Gold - even in broad daylight - and something was definitely up with that.

Ariel had argued that their next step should be to find out more about the animals’ reaction to Gold. Belle thought Ariel’s smile had been too gleeful to be just curious and adventurous, but she had to admit she wanted to see if animals really did react strangely to Gold. That’s why Ariel had convinced David Nolan - who worked at the animal shelter - to loan her a cat to take out in the fresh air.

Belle heard the clock tower chime nine. The library was now officially open, and she peeked through the window to see if anyone was coming yet. She saw nobody, so she picked up her book and started reading again.

The sound of angry shouting had Belle jumping up from her chair and outside in no time. In front of the library stood Gold snarling something she couldn’t quite make out. A closer look revealed his right arm was bleeding. Ariel stood cowering before him, holding the cat protectively.

“Mr. Gold!” Belle burst out. “Are you alright?”

Belle gently took Gold by his left arm and tugged him towards the library.

“What are you doing, Miss French?”

“I have a first aid kit inside. Let me clean that up for you.”

Gold seemed sufficiently distracted, so Belle shooed Ariel away behind his back. Ariel quickly took off with the still hissing cat.

Once inside, Belle sat Gold down on a chair. She got the first aid kit, a towel and a bowl from a drawer. She told Gold to stay put as she went to the bathroom to get some warm water in the bowl. When she got back, Gold looked like he hadn’t moved a muscle since she’d left him. She told him to take off his jacket and roll up his right sleeve. He immediately stood up to do so, but he didn’t look at her. He hung his jacket on his chair, then sat down again and carefully started to roll up his sleeve.

Belle admired Gold’s sudden casual look before setting the bowl on the table and kneeling down beside him. He still didn’t look at her, he just slowly continued with his task. When he reached the part of his sleeve that was mostly in tatters, he hissed in pain and shoved the last bit over his elbow.

Belle reached for Gold’s arm, but he turned away from her, cradling his arm close to him. The cat seemed to have done a real number on him; his arm was covered in deep, still bleeding gashes. When he bowed his head down as if he was about to lick his arm, Belle gently tugged on his upper right arm to turn him back to her.

“Here, now. Don’t do that,” Belle admonished.

Gold froze, as if he suddenly realized what he had been about to do. Belle put his arm on the table.

“Just hold still.”

Belle wetted the towel and dapped it on the wound. Gold howled in pain and yanked his arm back.

“That hurts!” Gold snarled.

“I know and I’m sorry, but it needs to be cleaned. Now stop moving your arm around and let me take care of that.”

Gold hesitated for only a moment, before he put his arm back on the table and rested his head on his left hand, looking away from her. Gold sat rigid like this as Belle cleaned the blood off his arm. She inspected the wounds, biting her lip, and rummaged in the first aid box for a bottle of ethanol. She put some ethanol on a different tip of the towel.

“Hold still. This might sting a little,” Belle cautioned.

Gold looked up to see what Belle was doing, just when Belle put the towel to his arm. He growled something she didn’t understand and he tried to yank his arm away again, but Belle held on to his arm tightly, and he gave up.

Belle finished disinfecting the wounds and looked up at Gold. She felt a pang in her heart at the look of pained betrayal in his eyes. She petted his hair, and it was just as soft as she had imagined - and since when was she imagining petting the hair of a rumored vampire? “There, there, sweetheart. I’m done with the nasty ethanol,” she cooed. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

Gold’s perplexed expression made Belle realize she had just called him ‘sweetheart’ on top of talking to him like a three-year-old , but she decided not to fret over that right now. She took some iodine, gauze and bandages from the first aid box. She trickled the iodine on the wounds, then put the gauze over them and bandaged his lower left arm.

“All done. Maybe have a doctor look at it just in case.”

Gold mumbled something in response that sounded a lot like ‘not bloody likely’. He cleared his throat. “Thank you, Miss French.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Gold.”

Belle realized she was still holding on to Gold’s hand. A look at his hand stopped her from letting go. On each of his fingertips were faint scars, small curved lines. Belle remembered Ariel mentioning these, and she wondered how he got them.

Clearing her throat, Belle let go of Gold’s hand. “Do you want to have a look around the library?”

“That was my intention before I got attacked by a miniature tiger. Any special offers for the second customer?”

“You’re the first,” Belle said with a confused frown.

“Is that so?” Gold smirked. “I heard you’ve been playing favorites, Miss French.”

“You mean Henry?” Belle asked. At Gold’s nod, she continued, “He was so very sad last week, I hoped to cheer him up a little.”

“Oh. I see. His whole class is probably devastated.”

Belle nodded. Gold stood up, rolled his sleeve back down and put his jacket on.

When she saw his torn sleeve, Belle felt guilty. Gold caught her look, and said, “Do you mind if I get changed before the grand tour? I have a change of clothes in my shop.”

“Of course not! Go ahead, I’ll be here all day.”

Gold smiled at Belle, thanked her again for bandaging his arm, and left. He hadn’t even been gone for a minute when Ariel stormed in.

“Thank God you showed up when you did! I was sure he was going to kill me and Jasper!” Ariel burst out.

“You named the cat?”

“Yes. Was Gold very hurt? More importantly, was he still mad? Jasper latched onto his arm and wouldn’t let go and Gold was yelling and swearing and -”

“Relax Ariel; panicking won’t help,” Belle chided. “Take a deep breath.”

When Ariel had calmed down, Belle asked, “So what happened?”

“I kept an eye on the street, like we had agreed, waiting for Gold. At nine, he came out of the shop and walked towards the library. I walked in his direction with Jasper in my arms, but when I had almost reached Gold, Jasper went mad! At first he just stood in front of Gold, hissing. Then Gold… I don’t know, but I think he hissed back. So Jasper attacked him. He jumped up and latched onto his arm, hissing and yowling, and Gold was cursing and waving his arm like a madman. Jasper let go of Gold’s arm just before you showed up.”

“That reaction is far worse than I had expected,” Belle said.

“Same,” Ariel agreed. “I don’t think it’s ever been this extreme. Although, maybe that’s because nobody ever let their pets get that close to Gold.”

“So what now? We can’t continue with the animals if it gets people hurt.”

“You’re right! Gold _did_ get hurt! Did you notice any super-fast healing?”

“No. I don’t think so, but I’m not a doctor. It was still bleeding when I cleaned it.”

“Oh that’s so cute!” Ariel gushed. “Like a real hero, you took care of your damsel in distress!”

“I wouldn’t let Gold hear you say that, if I were you,” Belle said.

“Too late,” Gold drawled from behind them. Ariel’s face drained of all color, and she hurried to hide behind Belle. Gold chuckled. “No need to worry, Miss Finns. I’m not going to fillet you.”

Ariel didn’t look reassured at all. Gold grinned and added, “I’m not making any other promises, though.”

Belle felt Ariel’s grip on her shoulder tighten painfully, and she glared at Gold. “Stop that. It’s unnecessary to scare Ariel or anyone else like that. Now, I’m going to give you that tour I promised, and if you can be good, you’ll get a cookie afterwards.”

Belle stood in front of Gold with her hands on her hips, daring him to refuse. Ariel looked at Belle like she’d gone completely mad. Gold seemed torn between keeping up his terrifying charade in front of Ariel and doing as he was told. It didn’t take him long to cave in.

“I don’t like cookies,” Gold sulked.

Belle bit her lip to keep from laughing. “That’s okay; I also have lollipops.” She smiled sweetly at Gold and gestured for him to follow her. Ariel looked at her full of wonder.

Belle walked both Ariel and Gold through the aisles, telling them how she had the books ordered. She showed them the archives last. Belle was bubbling with excitement over the archives. In her first week, she - and Ariel - had mostly focused on finding information about Gold, but in the last few days she had realized how very extensive it was. She was happily chattering about everything she had found so far, when she noticed that Gold was just staring at her with a goofy smile on his face. Caught in his staring, he quickly looked away and tried to hide his blush behind his hair. Belle bit her lip before continuing her enthusiastic monologue.

Suddenly, Gold looked up. “I’m very sorry, but I need to open my own shop. Thank you for the tour. I think you’ll be a great librarian.”

Gold turned around and was out of the door before Belle could blink. She turned to Ariel - who looked just as surprised by Gold’s sudden exit - but before she could comment, someone else entered the library.

Belle and Ariel walked back to the front.

“You think he heard that someone was coming?” Ariel whispered.

“I don’t know,” Belle whispered back.

They reached the front and saw Regina standing at the desk. Regina asked a few questions about how Belle was going to run the library, and she looked around for a bit. She discussed some details about the changed members policy, and left with a stack of books - including two for Henry.

As soon as the door had closed behind Regina, Ariel was on Belle. “You’ve tamed the beast! You’re a snake-charmer! That came out wrong… how about a vampire-charmer?”

“What are you talking about?” Belle asked confused.

“You really have no idea?” Ariel laughed. “You berated Gold in front of me. You basically told him to be a good boy and promised him treats. You had him trailing after you like a little puppy. Do I need to go on?”

“Maybe he’s just so used to people being scared of him that he doesn’t know what to do if someone isn’t,” Belle pondered aloud.

“No. I prefer to think he’s a lovesick puppy,” Ariel snickered. “So, what do we do next? We could try a dog…”

“I don’t know about a dog, but I think we need to see Henry.”

“What? Why?” Ariel asked puzzled.

“We haven’t been able to get a decent picture of him all weekend, but I remember you saying Henry had one of him in jail.”

“Even _if_ Henry still has it, I doubt he would let us see it. He made a deal with Gold, after all.”

“I just want to know if it’s grainy as well; I don’t want to see it.” At Ariel’s unconvinced look, Belle confessed, “Okay, I would like to see it, but I doubt it’s going to happen.”

Ariel smiled. “I’ll text Henry to meet us here when school’s out. So… no dog?”

“Maybe if the dog’s on a leash? We have to make sure no one else gets hurt.”

“If we get the sweetest, gentlest dog we can find, and introduce it to as many people as possible - as the control group - the results will be almost foolproof. Maybe we can even get Henry to walk the dog?”

Belle sighed deeply. “If Gold ever finds out we want to bring down a pet plague on him, we’re so dead.”

“I doubt it. Gold’s fond of Henry, and he seems really taken with you as well. Just make sure you tell him frequently you’d be devastated if something happened to me.”

“That’s not really a joking matter, Ariel,” Belle admonished. She mulled Ariel’s words over for a moment. “Alright, we include Henry. Let’s make Operation Pet Plague happen!”

Ariel squealed in delight, and high-fived Belle. Belle dug up her notebook, and the two started planning again. After a while, Ariel left for the mayor’s office. Apparently, as long as all her work was done at the end of the day and she could be reached on her phone, Ariel could spend the day however she wanted. Belle hadn’t expected that of the Evil Queen.

Belle spent most of the morning engrossed in her book, with only a few people coming in to check out the library and the new librarian. At twelve Ariel came back, and only a few minutes later Henry dashed inside as well. Ariel and Belle explained Operation F6 to him, and Henry was very excited to help them. They also told them about their failed attempts to get a picture of Gold.

“You want to know about the picture I took of Mr. Gold in jail?” Henry asked.

Belle nodded immediately, her eyes alight with curiosity.

“I’m sorry,” Henry said. “I’ve never seen the picture. It was a few years back, and I didn’t have a digital camera, only a disposable one that my Mom - Emma - got me.”

“That’s alright, Henry,” Ariel reassured him.

Belle bit her lip. “What did he bribe you with?” she blurted out.

“I could pick three things in his shop that I wanted.”

Belle’s eyes grew wide with excitement and she turned to Ariel. “We need to get him in jail and take a picture! We’ll make the same deal, and then I can pick out one of his books!”

“I still have two vouchers; if you tell me which books you want, I can get them for you,” Henry offered.

“Oh Henry, sweetheart, that’s so generous of you! Those are yours, though. You should use them for something _you_ want.”

Henry looked like he wanted to object, but Ariel got them back on track. “So, when will we get a dog from the animal shelter?”

The three of them stuck their heads together and made plans during the rest of the lunch break.

Two weeks later they had a very extensive list of how different animals reacted to Gold. They had also taken the animals to random other Storybrooke inhabitants, to see if the animals acted differently around them.

Exposing even the gentlest dog to Gold had been almost as much of a disaster as the cat had been. Poor little Henry had had to put up a real fight to keep the dogs under control - he hadn’t been satisfied with having just _one_ dog barking at Gold - and after a week Regina had forbidden everyone in the animal shelter to let Henry take a dog for a walk.

Belle was sure by that time Gold had been on to them, but instead of being angry - as Ariel had expected - he had seemed more amused by the whole thing. When they hadn’t been able to use dogs anymore, Henry had started to ‘borrow’ rats from his classmates and the animal shop. Ariel was afraid of rats, so it had been up to Belle and Henry to plant the rodents in his direct vicinity.

Henry had argued they couldn’t risk the rats running away, so they had had to either shove the rats in Gold’s face - Belle had vetoed this as soon as Henry had brought it up - or let the rats loose in his shop. Henry also hadn’t seen a problem with the last option, so that was exactly what he had done.

The rat had sat on Gold’s foot, its head under his pant leg, licking the ankle of a very disgruntled Gold. Henry had chirped an apology, carefully extracted the rat from Gold, and run out of Gold’s shop. Belle’s rat and Henry’s next two rats had done more or less the same.

After the rats, they had introduced other random pets to Gold. The man himself had seemed to resign himself to this fate. In the last few days when he had seen one of them, he had stopped and waited for them to spring a pet on him - though only if there weren’t any other people around, and if there were, he gestured for them to come to the shop.

The first time this had happened to Ariel, she’d been scared out of her mind, but Belle had soothed her worries, reminding her of Gold’s amusement and Belle’s promise to convince Gold that Ariel was important to her.

So after these two weeks they had tested all the pets they had been able to come up with - besides dogs, cats, and rats, they had also exposed rabbits, mice, several types of birds, and even a goat to Gold. The results didn’t mean anything to them. Dogs and cats apparently hated him, rats loved him, and all the other animals seemed to act no different around him than around other people.

It was now Tuesday, two weeks after they first started planning Operation Pet Plague, and Belle and Ariel were discussing what to do next, the notebook with the results in front of them.

Suddenly Henry came storming in. “Let’s do one more animal!” he shouted excitedly.

Belle and Ariel exchanged a smile. Henry’s excitement had been impossible to contain once they had involved him in this. “Okay,” Ariel agreed, “Do you have an animal in mind?”

“Yes! A bat!”

“A bat?” Belle echoed with a surprised frown. “Where would we get a bat?”

“I already have one! I caught one last night in the yard.”

“Has it bitten you? That’s really irresponsible, Henry! Bats can be quite dangerous,” Belle admonished him.

“I know, Belle! I’ve read about bats. I was really careful! I wore leather gloves when I caught it. I’ve also caught mosquitos and flies to feed it. He looks alright.”

“If you’ve read about them, then you know you need a permit to keep a bat as a pet,” Belle said.

Henry sighed dramatically. He looked very cute and Belle bit her lip to keep from laughing. “I’m not going to _keep_ it; I only want to see what it does when we set it on Mr. Gold.”

“We can’t do that, Henry,” Ariel said. “What if it has rabies and bites Mr. Gold?”

“Only about 1% of wild bats have rabies, and those look sickly! Vladimir looks healthy, I searched on the internet for reference pictures!”

Belle shook her head. “You _named_ the bat you aren’t going to keep?”

“Well, I have to call him something. I can’t just call him Bat, or my moms might catch on.”

“You have to release it, Henry. Bats are wild animals.”

Henry hung his head dejectedly. “Okay. I’ll do it now.” He grabbed his backpack and ran out.

Belle and Ariel got back to their discussion on how to proceed with Operation F6. Since Belle already had a great amount of garlic, she would take that out for a walk to Gold’s pawnshop. Ariel had a silver bracelet she could ‘accidentally’ brush against Gold.

They were discussing how to convince the nuns to give them some holy water, when Ariel suddenly said: “Do you think we should have specified to Henry _where_ to release the bat? As in, not in Gold’s shop?”

Belle looked horrified at Ariel. They both jumped up at the same time and were out of the library and across the street in record time. They crashed into the shop, and stopped their mad dash to stare at the sight that greeted them.

A guilty looking Henry was holding a small, opened cage. Gold stared at him in exasperation. The bat, cute, little Vladimir - a young, little brown bat, Belle’s mind supplied - was doing something she was _sure_ bats didn’t normally do. It was happily sitting on Gold’s shoulder.


	11. Dead of Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle can't sleep, so she goes for a run in the middle of the night. Not the best decision she's ever made...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! I hope everyone will enjoy it.

Belle lay awake in her bed. She turned around to look at her alarm clock. It was a little past 2 AM now, and this was getting ridiculous. She’d expected that after the day’s events she would have slept like a baby, but the opposite was true.

With Gold’s help it had been easy to get the bat - Vladimir - back in its cage. Belle and Ariel had taken Henry to the forest to release it, lecturing him about the danger of setting wild animals on people the whole walk.

Back in town, all hell had broken loose in their absence. A couple hiking in the woods had found a graveyard – bodies had been piled up there for months. All of them had been mutilated in the same way as Mr. Peabody. Nobody in Storybrooke had gone missing in the last couple of months, so sheriff Graham had reached out to neighboring cities for their missing persons list. The sheriff’s department was working hard to get as much information as possible from the crime scene, and they had enlisted help from other precincts to identify the bodies.

When Mr. Peabody had been found, people had been angry. Now they were scared of the monster that seemed to be living among them. The town had quickly split into two camps: a lot of people still believed Mr. Gold was a vampire, and he was behind all of this. The rest thought a different kind of monster had to be living in the woods.

After another look at the clock, Belle sighed deeply. She was too wound up to fall asleep, so she might as well do something with that energy. She got out of bed and put on some workout clothes. Her father would probably throw a fit if he found out she was going for a run in the middle of the night when there was a killer on the loose, so she decided to take a heavy flashlight with her. Besides, from what she knew of serial killers, they had a type, and all the victims had so far been male.

Belle walked outside, put her earbuds in, and jogged towards the forest. That probably wasn’t the safest place to be right now, but the quiet, abandoned streets unnerved her. She wished she had taken Gold up on his offer to get a gun, though.

Belle made sure to stick to the well-travelled paths – the dumpsite for the killer’s bodies had been found on the other side of Storybrooke, away from the common hiking trails. The peaceful quiet of the woods calmed her busy mind. She didn’t know why – there hadn’t been any nearby forests growing up.

When the first song of her playlist started again, Belle decided her mind had successfully processed the day, and she was ready for sleep. She took the next turn to the right, which would lead her back to Storybrooke. The song ended, but before the next one began, she heard something.

Belle stopped dead in her tracks, and she yanked the earbuds out. The sound had come from her left, but she couldn’t make anything out in the dark. Belle contemplated getting help for a moment, but decided against it. She’d quickly check if someone needed help first.

Very carefully – and more importantly, quietly – she made her way through the trees in the direction of the noise. She heard it again, still several yards away, and she felt the hair in her neck stand on end. It sounded like someone was very weakly begging for his life.

When Belle got her first look at the scene, she stopped, the blood draining from her face. She could vaguely make out two people, one with his face pressed to the neck of the second. The victim was struggling very weakly against the hold of his attacker, but he didn’t even seem to notice this.

Belle put her hand over her mouth to cover the sound of her breathing, and she slowly started to back away, her other hand fumbling to find her phone. She found it, but when she unlocked it, she heard a thud. She looked up to see the killer had dropped his victim, who wasn’t moving anymore.

“No need for that phone, love,” the killer said. He snapped his fingers and vanished.

Gasping, Belle realized her phone had disappeared from her hand as well. A part of her screamed that she had to get away from here as fast as she could, but she had to admit that if he could get her phone from that far away without her seeing him move, she’d never stand a chance.

Belle took the flashlight from her backpack, and held it in front of her with two hands as if she was wielding a sword. She heard him chuckle to her right, and without thinking about it further, she turned in that direction to hit him as hard as she could in his face.

Or at least, that had been the plan. She hadn’t seen him move, but her flashlight connected with his lower right arm. A normal man would have been hurt– she might be small, but she wasn’t _that_ weak – but this man just laughed it off.

“Aren’t you full of spunk! You’re the first one to try to fight, instead of running away.”

The man gripped Belle by the throat with his right hand and lifted her up. She noticed the flashlight had disappeared as well, so she clawed at his arm and kicked him in his stomach, but neither was of any use in getting him to let go of her. This didn’t stop her from trying, and she managed to kick him in the groin. _That_ seemed to get a reaction out of him: he howled in pain.

“You little bitch!” he hissed, and he flung Belle away from him.

Belle landed several yards away, and she rolled on the forest floor for another couple of feet, before coming to rest next to the barely still breathing victim she had seen the vampire – there wasn’t a doubt in her mind anymore - drink from earlier.

With a pained groan, Belle tried to sit up. She noticed her phone not a foot away, and she lunged for it. She had to warn _someone_ that the killer wasn’t human. The vampire suddenly appeared in front of her again and kicked the phone away. He grabbed her by the hair and leaned down. He whispered something and suddenly everything went black.

* * *

 

“Mom!” Henry shouted as he came bursting into the sheriff’s office.

Emma smiled at him. “Hey kid! Glad you’re here; I’m in desperate need for a break. Wanna go to Granny’s to get some pastrami sandwiches?”

“Bring me back a burger,” Mr. Gold chimed in from behind bars.

For a moment Henry looked surprised at seeing Mr. Gold in a jail cell again, before he turned back to Emma. “Mom, you need to start a search party! Miss French hasn’t opened the library today, and she’s also not at home, nor answering her phone!”

“Calm down, Henry! Are you sure she’s not at home? Maybe she’s ill?”

“We were supposed to meet at the library! She would have let me know if she couldn’t make it!”

“We can easily check if Miss French is home or not; I have a key after all,” Mr. Gold offered.

“She’s not home! We need to start a search for her _now_!” Henry all but yelled.

“Relax, Henry. Belle is probably reading a book and lost track of time. We can -”

“Mr. Gold, please let me borrow the key so I can show Mom that Belle isn’t home, and we can start looking for her,” Henry interrupted Emma.

“Of course, my boy,” Mr. Gold readily agreed. He looked worried as well.

Emma was about to say something, when the phone rang. She sighed and picked it up, and her face turned serious almost instantly. After she’d hung up, she grabbed the keys to the police cruiser and walked in front of Henry.

“I want you to go to Regina’s place and stay there. Okay kid?”

“But -”

“No buts. I’m serious, kid. Stay with your other Mom.”

Emma took Henry by the shoulder and gently dragged him out. He started to walk in the direction of his Mom’s office, but he suddenly remembered he’d placed his schoolbag on the table. He ran back into the sheriff’s office to get it.

The sight in front of him had Henry frowning. He was sure that when he left, Mr. Gold had been on the _other_ side of the bars. Mr. Gold froze at his sudden return, looking at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

“What are you doing?” Henry asked Mr. Gold. “And how did you get out?”

Mr. Gold recovered quickly. “Miss Swan forgot to lock it,” he lied smoothly.

“No, she didn’t. Can you magically unlock locks? Have you kidnapped Miss French?”

“Of course not!” Mr. Gold denied immediately.

“Not what? The magic or the kidnapping?” Henry demanded.

“Listen to me, Henry. Miss French has been hurt,” Mr. Gold looked very pained as he said this. He took a deep breath before continuing. “I want to go there to find out who’s responsible so I can rip him apart!” he snarled, his eyes wild with anger.

“How would you know she’s the one that’s been hurt?” Henry asked reasonably.

“I overheard the person calling say so!”

“You can’t have; I was closer, and I couldn’t hear what they were saying.”

“I don’t have -”

“You need to stay here, Mr. Gold,” Henry interrupted him. “If people find out you can escape from a locked jail cell, you’ll be the prime suspect. They’ll hunt you down.”

“I don’t care!”

“I do! And I think Miss French would care as well! You said she was hurt; you didn’t say she was _dead_ , so maybe she can tell you herself who attacked her.”

Mr. Gold looked like he wanted to argue, but Henry sternly pointed at his cell until Mr. Gold shuffled back inside.

“Did you hear how hurt Miss French was?” Henry asked anxiously.

“Just that she was unconscious, but still breathing. Deputy Nottyngam’s body was found next to her.”

“So… someone else is dead?” Henry asked with tears in his eyes.

“Aye. I’m sorry, my boy.”

Henry wiped at his eyes, but he looked back at Mr. Gold when he heard him snap his fingers. The jail was locked again. “So, you really _can_ magically unlock – and lock – doors?”

“It’s not magic,” Mr. Gold grumbled. “Aren’t you scared I did this as well last night to escape my cell? So I can kill but still have an alibi?”

“No,” Henry said simply. He continued with a stern look: “You shouldn’t kill the person responsible.”

“Why not?”

“Because then you’ll go to jail. It’s better to put the killer in jail.”

“Who’s to say that will keep him?” Mr. Gold muttered.

Henry looked worried. “Do you know who the killer is?”

“Do you think I’d still be here if I’d knew?”

“Then why did you say he can magically unlock locks as well?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you implied. Are you really a vampire?”

Mr. Gold sighed deeply. “Why do people suddenly believe in vampires?”

“That’s not an answer to my question,” Henry observed.

“Your question is ridiculous.”

“Maybe it is, but you’re not denying it. You never lie, Mr. Gold. Are you not denying it, because it would be lying?”

“Stop asking these absurd questions; someone is coming.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

Not a second later Henry heard the door open. His Mom led Belle - wrapped in a blanket - inside. He thought that was a very good sign. If Belle was hurt, she would be in the hospital.

“Henry, what are you still doing here?” Emma asked when she saw Henry. “I told you to go to Regina.”

“Sorry, Mom. I forgot my schoolbag, so I went back.”

Emma looked suspiciously at him for a moment. When she couldn’t detect a lie, she sighed. “Okay. Now that you have it, you can go to Regina.”

“Can’t I stay? Miss French is my friend,” Henry saw a small smile form on Miss French’s face at that. “I want to know what happened to her.”

“Not happening, kid. This is part of the investigation. Go to Regina’s office. Maybe Ariel has some hot cocoa for you.”

“Fine,” Henry groaned in defeat. He picked up his bag and walked out.

* * *

 

“So, Belle, let’s continue this in my office,” Emma said. “I can’t send Henry away, but let Mr. Gold overhear everything.”

Belle whipped her head around. She hadn’t even noticed Gold sitting in the cell before. He looked worried, but he smiled when she looked at him. She smiled back, before following Emma into her office.

“Can I get you anything?” Emma asked when Belle sat down.

Belle shook her head. “No, thanks.”

Emma sat down in front of her. “Is it okay if I record this conversation?” At Belle’s nod, she pushed a button on the recorder. “Can you tell me what happened? What were you doing in the forest?” Emma asked as she also took out a notepad.

Belle took a deep breath. She had to be very careful what details to leave out. People wouldn’t believe her if she said the attacker could magically make things disappear from her hands or move faster than she could see, and she didn’t want to end up in an asylum. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go run myself into exhaustion. When -”

“What time did you leave?” Emma interrupted Belle.

“I think it was half past two. I didn’t look at the time once on my run, so I can’t give you a timeline after that.”

“Okay. Please continue.”

“When my playlist started over, I decided to go back home, so I took a turn that would lead back into Storybrooke. Halfway down that path - the closest path to where I was found - I heard something. I walked closer, because I didn’t know if it was an animal or not. That’s when I saw them.”

“Them?” Emma asked. She looked shocked, but slightly excited as well.

Belle nodded. “Yes. One was holding the other, and I think the attacker was drinking from Keith’s neck.”

“Did you recognize the attacker as well?” Emma looked definitely excited now.

“No. I didn’t recognize Keith either; it was too dark. I only recognized him when I woke up and saw him lying next to me.”

“So you wouldn’t be able to identify the attacker?”

“I’m very sorry, but no. I think his voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I’ve met so many new people lately. Maybe I’d recognize the voice if I’d hear it again.”

“Then it probably is someone from town,” Emma muttered to herself. “I’m going to ask, because people would demand me to do so. Could it have been Gold?”

“No,” Belle immediately denied. “This man was taller, and he had shorter hair.”

“Okay. Tell me what happened next. You said he spoke to you?”

“Yes. That’s the last thing I remember. Before that… Uhm…”

“You saw the attacker drinking the victim’s blood.”

Belle bit her lip and shifted in her chair before she continued. “I tried to quietly back away. I took my phone out, so I could call for help. The va- attacker was suddenly in front of me. He grabbed my phone and threw it away, and then he dragged me back towards K-Keith.” Belle shook, and a sob escaped her.

“Shhh. It’s alright. You’re safe now,” Emma comforted Belle. She stood up and dragged her chair to Belle’s side of the table and placed it next to her. Emma put an arm over Belle’s shoulder. “Can you go on? Or do you want to take a break?”

“I can go on,” Belle sniffled. She wiped at her tears. “While he was dragging me away, I dug up my flashlight, and I hit him with it on his arm. He grabbed me by my throat and -”

“Let me see,” Emma interrupted Belle once again.

Belle put the collar of her shirt down, and Emma gasped. “That man has a hell of a grip! Your throat is covered in bruises! Does it still hurt? Can you breathe properly?”

“I’m fine. I think. It’s a bit sore,” Belle responded. She carefully examined her throat with her hands.

“Is it okay if I take a photo of it later? To add to the file?”

“Of course,” Belle said. She winced when she hit a particular sore spot on her throat. She put her hands in her lap and cleared her throat. “So when he grabbed me by my throat, I think I dropped my flashlight so I could try to pry his fingers away. He released me when I kicked him in the groin. I tripped and fell down next to Keith. My phone was not a foot away, but it was kicked out of my reach. He grabbed me by my hair and pulled me closer. I was so scared he would kill me as well, but he whispered in my ear that he would let me live this time. I blacked out after that. I don’t know why.”

“You were terrified, Belle, and rightly so. I think we should give you police protection. You’re the only one who could possibly identify the killer at the moment, so I fear he might come after you.”

“I’m not even sure I would recognize him - certainly not on sight - so I don’t think he would recognize me either. It was too dark to get a good look at him. Besides, now Keith is dead,” Belle’s voice broke a little, “I doubt you can spare the manpower to keep watch over me 24/7.”

“Graham and I will figure something out. I don’t want to find your body next! I don’t want to find any other bodies, dammit!”

“Can I get a gun permit?”

“What?” Emma looked thrown at the sudden change of topic.

“Can I get a gun permit? So I can protect myself, and you can keep looking for the killer instead of babysitting me.”

“A gun won’t do you any good if you don’t know how to use it,” Emma cautioned.

“I know. Gold said he could teach me.”

“He did what?” Emma asked shocked. She shook her head. “You need a certificate to prove your knowledge of handgun safety before you can get a permit. There’s no training for that here in Storybrooke, but if you get lessons from Gold, and afterwards prove to a trainer that you know how to handle a gun, he can sign a certificate for you. I think I’d prefer an hour long drive for a couple of training sessions over being in a room with Gold and a gun, though. And I’m not even thinking about what he’d charge you for that.”

“I’ll handle Gold,” Belle said confidently.

Emma had an amused smile on her face. “You know what? I somehow don’t doubt that. I overheard Regina raging about Henry dragged away by dogs that he had set on Gold. Am I correct in thinking you and Ariel had something to do with that as well?”

“Of course not!” Belle immediately denied. She felt her cheeks turn red, and Emma’s smile only grew wider.

“Let’s get you home, okay?” Emma said as she stood up. “Take a day off; you deserve some rest after the night you’ve had.”

“Oh I couldn’t close the library! I’ll sleep tonight. No more wandering in the woods after dark for me.”

Emma shook her head. “Let me make a photo of those bruises.” She got a camera from one of the drawers. She snapped a few shots, put the pictures in her notebook and the camera back in its drawer, and led Belle out of her office.

“Why is Gold in the cell?”

“People were getting up to do stupid things again,” Emma answered. “Keith had a bit too much to drink, and when he ran into Gold late last night, he was saying all kinds of nasty things. Keith tried to hit Gold, but Gold dodged and knocked him to the ground. I sent Keith home, but I was afraid others might get the same idea.” Emma said. She continued in a hushed tone, “I put Gold in jail under the pretense of letting him cool off, but it was more to protect him. You can’t tell him this; he might think I’m more fond of him than the rest of the town is.”

Belle saw Gold’s lip curl up in a smirk. He’d definitely heard Emma, but she wasn’t going to let her know.

“I wish I had put Keith in jail; he might still be alive that way,” Emma sighed suddenly.

Belle patted Emma on her back. “This isn’t your fault. If the killer hadn’t been able to get Keith, he would have just killed someone else. You can’t blame yourself for this. We need to find the killer and make sure _he_ is punished.”

“You’re right,” Emma sighed. “Give me a second, and I’ll walk you to the library.” She got a set of keys from a drawer. “I’m letting you out, Gold. I’ll spread the word that Belle didn’t recognize the killer, and you were in jail the whole night; maybe people will stop bothering you.”

“Let’s hope so,” Gold agreed.

Emma let Gold out of his cell and put the keys back in the drawer. She took out her phone to send some texts. Gold walked close to Belle. He reached his hand out as if to touch her, before dropping it again.

“Are you okay?” Gold murmured.

“I’ll be fine. Still processing my near-death experience.”

“If you need anything, my door’s always open.”

Belle nodded.

“Okay, Belle. I’m all done. Let’s get you back to your library. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather take the day off?”

Gold quickly stepped away from Belle and walked towards the exit.

“I think I prefer to stay busy, right now.”

Emma shrugged and walked in the direction of the door.

Gold cleared his throat. “Good day, Miss French. Miss Swan.”

Belle waved, but he was already gone. She glared halfheartedly at the closed door. A sudden thought had her turning back to Emma. “Did you find my phone? Or my flashlight?”

“We did, but it’s evidence. As soon as they’re processed, you’ll get them back.”

Belle nodded, and followed as Emma walked outside. Emma left Belle in her library, but only after she was unsuccessful in trying to convince her to rest one last time. Belle quickly darted to her apartment to take a shower and get a different set of clothes. She dumped her workout clothes in the bin - all that rolling around on the forest floor had resulted in several rips and tears. Once washed and in clean clothes - she put on a slightly warmer shirt with a high collar to hide her bruises - she went down to open the library and get some work done.

Belle had only just finished getting all the returned books back in their proper place, when Ariel and Henry stormed in.

“Thank God you’re okay!” Ariel burst out. She crashed into Belle and hugged her tightly - this seemed to become a normal occurrence. “We were worried sick! Please don’t ever go into the woods in the middle of the night again.”

Ariel gave Belle a very thorough once over - as if to check all her parts were still there - and nodded in satisfaction. “I need to bring Henry to school and run some errands, but when we’ll come back I expect a _very_ detailed explanation.”

Ariel grabbed Henry by his hand, and they took off again. Belle bit her lip. She was sure Ariel and Henry would believe her, but if the killer _really_ was some supernatural being, then she didn’t want this to encourage them to find him. She sighed deeply; there was still some time to decide what to tell and what not.

While looking around to see if more work needed to be done, someone else entered - calmly, this time - the library. Belle looked up and smiled at Gold, who was carrying the stack of books he had borrowed some days ago.

Gold said again to come to him if she needed anything, so Belle told him what Emma had said about getting a gun permit.

“I already told you I am willing to teach you how to use a gun,” Gold said. “If you drop by my shop after closing the library, you can pick one that feels comfortable.”

“I can’t carry a gun yet; I need the permit first.”

“You can practice with one. I have several guns,” here Gold looked away from Belle as if ashamed, though Belle couldn’t think of a reason why, “And you’re welcome to any of them.”

“Thank you, Mr. Gold. I really appreciate your help,” Belle squeezed his hand to emphasize her genuine gratitude. She picked up his books and scanned them, marking them as ‘returned’. “Do you want any help picking some new books?”

“That won’t be necessary. I have a feeling I won’t have much time for reading the next few days.”

Belle felt guilty, and with some reluctance - and that made her feel even more guilty - she said, “You don’t have to sacrifice all your free time to teach me how to shoot.”

“That’s not what I meant, dear. I’ll gladly teach you how to use a gun. I’ve _very_ recently taken on a new evening - ah - occupation.”

Belle eyed him suspiciously. Why would he hesitate like that over what to call whatever he was doing in the evenings? No matter, she would just try to pry it out of him during their lessons. She was secretly glad she would get to spend more time with him.

“Let me put those books away, and we’ll make plans. Okay?”

At his nod, she took the books and walked away. The last two books were on the top shelf very close in the same aisle, so she got the stepladder that still stood in the aisle next to it. After she had shelved the first book, she discovered she had placed the ladder too close to the first book. She carefully balanced on her ladder, trying to place the last book in its proper place without having to move the ladder. She could see Gold examining one of her knickknacks on her desk from the corner of her eye. When he felt her eyes on him, he looked up and smiled at her. Belle smiled back and shifted the last bit to put the book on the shelf. She was successful, but in the process her ladder had slid away. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to imbalance her completely.

Belle fell to the ground, and she prepared herself mentally for the pain the impact with the ground would bring.

It never came.

Instead, she felt herself cradled safely in the warm embrace of Gold’s arm. She blinked a few times. Gold had been at least ten yards away, so how had he managed to catch her? He looked at her as if he had no idea how she had ended up in his arms either. He looked very cute - and very kissable.

“Thank you,” Belle said breathlessly, before she would forget to do so and actually kiss him instead.

Gold set her back on her feet and stepped back. He looked flustered, and he made a weird waving motion with his hands. “It’s no matter.”

‘Cute’ didn’t even come close anymore, Gold looked absolutely adorable, and Belle wanted to wrap her arms around him and cuddle for the rest of the day. Shaking her head, she decided she must have been more out of sorts than she had thought, if that was where her mind went instead of the questions she should be firing at him. She decided to start with the most pressing one.

“How did you catch me?”

Gold looked confused. “With my hands.”

Belle rolled her eyes at him. Good. She was back to her normal self. “That’s not what I meant, silly. You were at the desk. How did you get to me in time?”

“I -”

“Don’t you _dare_ tell me you were standing next to me,” Belle interrupted him. “I’ve read Twilight.”

“ _Please_ ,” he begged, his beautiful brown eyes almost convincing her.

“I’ve asked this before, but I now realize you’ve never given me a conclusive answer. Are you a vampire?”

It was dead silent for a beat.

“I am,” Gold answered, looking absolutely miserable.

“I knew it!” Belle cheered. She quieted and tried to put on a stern face. “I want to know _everything_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time we'll finally get some answers!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who reads or comments, it means a lot to me! 
> 
> Disclaimer: OUAT still doesn't belong to me.


	12. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle finally gets some answers about vampires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry this took so long. Hope you will enjoy!

Last time:

“I’ve _asked this before, but I now realize you’ve never given me a conclusive answer. Are you a vampire?”_

_It was dead silent for a beat._

_“I am,” Gold answered, looking absolutely miserable._

_“I knew it!” Belle cheered. She quieted and tried to put on a stern face. “I want to know_ everything _.”_

* * *

Belle looked expectantly at Gold. When her patience ran out before he had said anything - which, admittedly, wasn’t after a very long time - she huffed in indignation. “You can’t spring something like that on a person and then not explain yourself!”

“I didn’t spring anything on you!” Gold denied immediately. “You dragged it out of me!”

“Yes. Well… the cat was already out of the bag when you crossed that distance far too fast for a human.”

“So are the rats, bats, and goats,” Gold grumbled sourly.

Belle blushed and guiltily looked down. “Sorry about that.” She looked up again and frowned. “Why _did_ the animals react so differently to you?”

“All cats and dogs hate vam… I mean… well, my kind. Bats, rats, and wolves like us. I have no idea why. I think some va - uhm - some of us believe we descend from wolves.”

“You can say ‘vampire’, you know,” Belle said with an amused smile. She mulled over what he just said. “How do you descend from wolves?”

“I have no idea. I think they believe vampires come from wolves in the same way humans come from apes.”

“That sounds weird. Were you born a vampire then?”

“No. I was born human, and later I was blooded.”

“I wonder how they think that works…” Belle trailed off. “When you say ‘blooded’ do you mean ‘turned into a vampire’? What does that mean? How does one become a vampire? How old were you when you were turned? How -”

“Why not talk about this somewhere else? Anyone can walk in here at any moment,” Gold said as he nervously looked over his shoulder at the door. “You can come to my house this evening. I can teach you about guns, and you can ask all your questions.”

Belle eyed him suspiciously. “Are you going to skip town?”

“What? No! Why would I do that?”

“You’ve been found out, and now you’re giving yourself time to get out of here.”

“Are you going to tell everybody?” Gold asked. When Belle very decidedly said ‘no’, he continued, “Then I have no reason to leave, do I? You come to my house after you close the library, and I’ll answer your questions. Deal?”

“Deal,” Belle agreed immediately.

Gold shook his head. “You’re very eager to come to the monster’s lair.” Belle shot him a very disapproving look. “Most people would say a vampire is a monster,” he muttered darkly. “Do you know where I live?”

“Yeah. I found it my first day here, when I was exploring town. The pink house.” Belle heard him grumble something about ‘salmon’ and ‘traditional’, and she chuckled.

Gold perked up at the sound of her laughter, and he smiled at her in return. “I’ll see you sometime after six then. Good day, Miss French.”

Belle bid Gold goodbye and got back to work. When she felt she needed a break, she made herself some tea and sat down at the front desk. She was randomly shuffling papers and doing nothing useful, so she decided to make a list with questions for Gold. She took her Operation F6 notebook out and started penning some down.

Her list was coming along nicely, when Ariel and Henry walked in. Henry ran to Belle and hugged her. He whispered to her he was very glad she was okay. Belle ruffled his hair affectionately.

“Can I tell what happened with Gold, before you tell what happened last night?” Henry asked. “I might forget about it otherwise.”

“Emma already explained to me why he was in jail,” Belle said.

“What?” Ariel cried out. “Gold was in jail? And Henry witnessed it _again_?”

“Yep. But that’s not what I meant,” Henry chirped.

“Go ahead, Henry,” Belle said, her curiosity winning out immediately. If Henry wanted to tell something before she told _her_ story, then he must consider it important. Ariel was mumbling how nobody ever told her _anything_ , but she quickly gave Henry her full attention when he started talking.

“Mom sent me away, but I had forgotten my backpack. When I went to retrieve it at the station, Mr. Gold was out of his cell. He had opened it _without breaking the lock._ ” Henry said the last bit in a very excited and dramatic whisper.

“Maybe Emma had forgotten to lock it,” Ariel offered reasonably.

Henry rolled his eyes and sighed. “No, it was locked when I left. Anyway, he had overheard the person on the phone saying it was Belle who was hurt. He said he wanted to find the person responsible so he could make him pay.”

Henry was interrupted here by Ariel’s dreamy ‘ that’s so romantic of him’. Belle hushed Ariel with flaming cheeks, secretly pleased by this information.

Clearing his throat not so subtly, and with a pointed look at Ariel, Henry continued. He told the women what else they had said, and when he said he had heard Gold snap his fingers to lock his cell again, Belle gasped.

“What? Does that mean anything to you?” Henry and Ariel both asked at once.

“Gimme a sec,” Belle said with a frown. She dug up her notebook and added ‘snapping fingers for magic’ to her list of questions for Gold. She wondered briefly if she should tell them about Gold, before remembering she’d promised him not to tell _everybody_ , and she would only tell Ariel and Henry. She bit her lip to hide her grin, and then turned her attention back to Ariel and Henry. “Okay, I think this is my cue to start my tale. I gave Emma a slightly different version, because I think most people wouldn’t believe me.”

Ariel and Henry immediately assured her they would believe her, so Belle started with her restless night, and her decision to go for a run in the woods. Ariel seemed to think that was very stupid (and she couldn’t really blame her for it in hindsight), and Henry thought it was really brave of her.

When Belle got to the part where she met the killer, she hesitated. Wouldn’t it be better to spare them? Thinking monsters _might_ exist was one thing, but _knowing_? It changed everything. Ariel looked at her expectantly, and Henry looked a bit scared, but determined. That did it for her. The three of them had formed a bond in the last few weeks. They were her friends, and she wouldn’t lie to them. Belle continued her story, and she put extra emphasis on the vampire snapping his finger and her phone disappearing from her hand.

Ariel gasped, and Henry said with big, round eyes, “So… whatever kind of supernatural being Mr. Gold is, the killer is as well?” Something clicked in his head, and he continued with trembling lips, “Or are you saying Mr. Gold _is_ the killer?”

Ariel looked worried as well. She’d just heard Gold could open locks, and therefore his night in jail wasn’t a very solid alibi.

“No, he’s not,” Belle immediately reassured them. “The man I met in the woods was taller, and his voice was completely different.” She continued her tale, and showed them the bruises on her neck when she told them about the killer lifting her up with one arm. She continued before they could comment on the bruises – she hadn’t dared take a look at them herself yet, hiding them beneath the collar of her shirt, but from the response she got to them, they had to look awful.

When Belle had told everything she could remember, Henry and Ariel just looked at her in stunned silence. She bit her lip, their worried looks making her nervous. She knew she should probably be freaking out more over the events of the night, but she felt she hadn’t really processed them yet. She was sure she would relive them many times in her nightmares. Especially the last moments of the encounter, when the vampire had stepped so close she could feel the warmth of his body (and weren’t vampires supposed to be cold?), and smell his breath, reeking of blood. He’d stroked her cheek with his hand and whispered he wasn’t going to kill her. In those last few moments before she had passed out, she had been terrified.

“Don’t worry, love. You’re too pretty to kill. At least for now…” She could remember the exact way he’d said it, the way the last bit was whispered with his mouth almost pressed to her ear. She shivered, even though it wasn’t cold at all. What if he _knew_ who she was? What if he came after her? He was too strong for her to be able to defend herself. If he came after her, nobody would be able to stop him.

Belle started to panic, hearing his words on repeat, when Ariel grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.

“Belle!” Ariel shouted. “Please snap out of it! You’re safe now. It’s just Henry and me here.”

Still shaking, Belle took some deep breaths. Ariel led her to her desk and pushed her down on the chair. Henry stood to the side, looking worried and scared. One look at him, and Ariel sent him to get some water for Belle.

At least she was finally having a proper reaction to what had happened, Belle thought. She sifted through her memories of the heroes in her books to find inspiration on how to deal with the situation. Heroes often went against incredible odds with nothing more than their determination to win. Maybe that was fiction, but giving up before starting the fight seemed like a sure way to lose. She would try to be brave, and hopefully bravery would follow. Finding a way to kill a vampire would also help.

These positive thoughts helped her calm down, and Ariel cooing soothing nothings to her did the rest. She suddenly remembered the killer wasn’t the only vampire in town. They had Gold to help them in their fight against this monster.

When Henry got back with three cups and a pitcher filled with water, Belle sat straight on her chair and she was feeling more herself again. She gulped down the cup of water Henry handed her, realizing it was – apart from her tea earlier - her first drink this day. She also hadn’t had anything to eat. Before going to Gold, she would drop by Granny’s to get something. She wondered if she should get something for him as well. Obviously, as a vampire he would drink blood, but could he eat normal food as well? She made a mental note to get him something. It would be the polite thing to do if she was going to bring food for herself, and she wasn’t going to offer him to feast on _her_.

After finishing her second glass of water, Belle said: “So, now we’ve got the nasty stuff out of the way, I can tell you about _my_ meeting with Gold this afternoon.”

“You promised to tell why Gold was in jail! Gimme that story first, before you ‘forget’ to tell me!” Ariel said.

Belle rolled her eyes. “Emma said people were getting ready to lynch Gold again late last night. Keith… well, I know you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but Keith had attacked Gold. He was rather drunk, so he missed, but Gold knocked him to the ground. Emma put Gold in jail to let him cool off. She said to me it was more to protect him, though.”

Henry spoke up tentatively. “If nobody knew Gold was put in jail, then Keith’s death would lead straight to Mr. Gold, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, I suppose it would make him the prime suspect,” Ariel answered. “Okay. We’ve got that out of the way; you wanted to tell us something else about Gold?”

Belle told them Gold had offered to teach her how to use a gun – “Cool!” Henry interrupted her excitedly. Belle smiled fondly at the boy. She described how Gold had miraculously crossed the length of the library in a second and caught her before she could hit the ground, and his subsequent admission of being a vampire.

Henry cheered, but Ariel seemed pensive. Belle nudged her, encouraging her to voice her thoughts.

“Some legends say vampires are shapeshifters, right? What if it _was_ Gold in the woods, just in a different form?”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Belle said. She mulled it over in her head for a few seconds. “I don’t think it was Gold. The vampire I met in the woods felt like a completely different person. I don’t really know how to explain it, but he gave me the feeling his heart was completely rotten. Gold… well maybe he’s a vampire, but there’s still good in his heart. That’s what I believe.”

Ariel sighed. “You know what? Let’s forget about the shapeshifting. This whole thing is terrifying enough without having to doubt _everyone_ you see. I’ll trust your judgment in this. If you say Gold is a good vampire, he is.”

“I agree!” Henry chimed in. “So, are you nervous about your date with Gold?”

“It’s not a date!” Belle immediately denied. “I’m going to interrogate him about the vampire thing.”

“Of course you are,” Ariel said with an amused grin. Henry shot her a disbelieving look as well.

“I _am_!” Belle insisted. She took out her notebook. “Look! I even made a list with things to ask him.”

Ariel looked at the list curiously. “What do you mean under ‘how does one become a vampire’ with ‘Gold mentioned being blooded’?”

“After he admitted being a vampire, I started asking questions, and he mentioned being ‘blooded’. He didn’t elaborate, but he promised to answer my questions tonight.”

“Do you want me to come along tonight?” Ariel asked.

Belle looked at Ariel, confused at the sudden change of topic. “What? Why?”

“You’re going to the vampire’s lair. Are you sure you wanna do that on your own?”

“I’m not scared of Gold. Besides, you now know where I will be, so if I disappear, you know who did it.”

“That’s not very reassuring,” Ariel mumbled. “Can you send a text every fifteen minutes? And one once you’re home?”

“Sure,” Belle agreed easily.

“If Gold is up to no good, won’t he notice that easily?” Henry piped in. “We should come up with a code, so we know it’s really Belle who’s sending the texts.”

“That’s a very good idea, Henry!” Ariel praised him. She ruffled his hair.

They decided on a list of ten Disney movies. Before Belle would enter Gold’s house, she would ask in the newly created group chat what Disney movies they’d watch this Saturday afternoon. After five and ten minutes, Ariel and Henry would reply with whatever movie they could think of – though not one from Belle’s list. After fifteen minutes, Belle would start from her list. This cycle would continue until she’d leave, at which point she’d offer ‘Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey’. From previous experience, she knew that the walk from Gold’s pink house to her home would take her about ten minutes, and she would send the next movie on her list when she was about halfway home. Once safely back home, she would send ‘Sleeping Beauty’. They’d also assigned Disney movies to various degrees of feeling unsafe. If Belle didn’t check in, Henry or Ariel would agree on the movie the other had last offered, and if she still hadn’t replied within one minute, they would call Emma to tell her they’d seen Gold forcibly drag Belle into his house.

Belle had heavily protested that, but Ariel argued they had to include the use of force, so help would come as quickly as possible.

Ariel looked up from her phone and said, “I’ve just arranged to babysit Henry for the night. Regina’s always gone on Wednesday evenings. Normally he’s alone these nights, but I offered to keep an eye on him. Just to be safe, with that murderer running around.” Ariel winked at Henry.

“Good thinking!” Henry and Belle said at the same time.

Ariel nodded. “That’s what I thought. So, Belle, you better not accidently miss _any_ of your check-in moments, because that would cause a lot of trouble for all of us.”

“Sure. Now let’s list those movies one more time.”

* * *

 

Belle nervously bit her lip. She stood in front of the pink house, her phone in her right hand with the first message ready to be sent to Ariel and Henry, and a bag with food from Granny’s in the other hand. She took a deep breath, pressed ‘send’, and rang the doorbell. Not a second later Gold opened the door.

Belle quickly put her phone in her purse. “Were you waiting in front of the door?” she asked.

“No,” Gold said with an amused smile. At her raised eyebrow, he continued, “ You already know I’m a vampire. No need to move at a slower pace around you.”

“Oh. Of course,” Belle said. As he waved her inside, she raised the bag from Granny’s. “I brought food.”

Gold looked embarrassed. “I’d forgotten it’d be dinner time for humans. My apologies.”

“Don’t worry about it; I hadn’t thought about it, either.”

Gold led her to the dining room. He held out a chair, and then vanished after a ‘be right back’. It was indeed not very long – Belle hadn’t even had the time to properly look around the room – when he appeared out of nowhere and set the table for her. The vanishing act was quite unnerving, more so because it reminded her of her meeting with the other vampire in town.

“You don’t eat any normal food?” Belle asked when he had set the table for one.

Gold grimaced. “I _can_ , I just can’t live on it. I’m sure you’re aware of my kind’s _diet_.”

Nodding, she put the food from Granny’s on her plate, and took a bite. After she’d swallowed, she continued, “There’s many different stories about a vampire’s diet. Some can only live on blood, some can also eat solid food. I’m just curious which stories are right and which are wrong.”

“And you want to discuss this while eating?”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t gross you out?”

“Is the pile of bodies found in the woods yours?” Belle asked after another bite.

“No!” Gold denied immediately. He was clearly disgusted by the idea.

“Do you k-kill when you feed?” Belle couldn’t help the slight stammer as she asked this.

“No, and I never have. Not even accidently.”

“Good,” Belle looked at her plate full of food.

She heard Gold mutter this didn’t mean he’d never killed, but she wasn’t sure she was meant to hear this. She wondered why she wasn’t scared. It probably was because of him being a vampire, and so he came from a different time with different morals. Or he’d killed other vampires. Vampires that were maybe more like the monsters of her stories.

Belle took a few more bites before she asked her next question. “Do you protect humans against other vampires?”

Gold barked out a laugh. “No, I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t _have_ to,” he answered. Before Belle could get angry with him for talking so carelessly about human lives, he continued, “What I mean is that vampires usually don’t kill humans. Sometimes a vampire goes rogue, but most of us never kill when feeding.”

“So the vampire killing here in Storybrooke has gone rogue?”

Gold shook his head. “I doubt this is done by a vampire. It’s more likely some psycho who’s seen too many horror movies.”

“No, it was a vampire,” Belle said. She couldn’t believe he of all people was doubting this.

“Miss French, I overheard your conversation with Deputy Swan, and nothing about your description screamed ‘vampire’ to me.”

“You could hear that?” Belle asked incredulously. “Wait, that doesn’t matter. I edited my story to make it sound less like I was attacked by some supernatural being.”

“So what really happened, then?”

Belle huffed in annoyance. “I thought _I_ was getting my questions answered.”

“You will,” Gold said with a smile. “If you tell me what happened, I can anticipate your questions. I might overlook things that are natural to me. Besides, it’s therapeutic to talk about traumatic experiences, and I think meeting a rogue vampire in the middle of the night classifies.”

“Fine. Let me finish dinner first,” Belle huffed with an indignant frown. He nodded, and she stabbed her lasagna with a bit more force than usual.

After a few bites, her phone chimed. She’d put it on silent, but an alarm would go off every fifteen minutes, so she wouldn’t forget to send a text. She mumbled an apology as she quickly took out her phone. She read the movies Ariel and Henry had offered, sent the first from her list, put the phone away, and continued eating.

When Belle finished her dinner, she told Gold what had really happened during her encounter with the killer. When she got to the part where her phone had vanished, she put her story on hold. “When he snapped his fingers, my phone disappeared, and Henry said you snapped your fingers to unlock and lock your cell. Do vampires have some sort of magic?”

“No, we don’t. Snapping our fingers is a… a habit, I think. And to distract eyewitnesses. If we want to move really fast for an extended period, we need to build up that speed. We start at a normal – human – pace, and accelerate until we move faster than the human eye can follow. This is called flitting. We -”

“Did you just call moving really fast _flirting_?” Belle interrupted him with a grin.

“No, of course not! It’s _flitting_ , with double ‘t’. As I was saying, we build up an electromagnetic charge while flitting. We can use this for short bursts of flitting-speed, or to manipulate the metal used in most locks. Snapping my fingers makes it easier to focus the electromagnetic charge.”

“So that other vampire didn’t use magic to make my phone disappear, he just moved really fast so he could grab it?”

“Yes,” Gold confirmed. “What happened next?”

“He -” Belle started, but she was interrupted by her phone. She quickly sent the second movie from the list, and continued her story.

When she mentioned the killer grabbing her by her throat, Gold motioned for her to show him. He seemed _really_ angry at the sight of her bruises. His lips were pulled down in an angry snarl, he was clenching and unclenching his fists on the table, and his eyes were blazing. After a moment he got his anger back under control, and, though the depth of his anger had unnerved her, she resumed her story.

Belle told him everything she could remember. After she’d recounted the whole story, she shuddered. “I was _so_ scared. Even after he’d said he would let me live. I wasn’t sure he really would. I don’t know why I passed out, though. Emma thought it was because I was so afraid, but -”

“It wasn’t because you were scared,” Gold interrupted her. “At least, I don’t think that’s the reason. We can exhale a gas that leaves our victims unconscious.”

“Wow,” Belle said as she shook her head. “Like your superior speed and strength wasn’t enough of an advantage.”

Gold just shrugged. Belle hoped vampires had some serious weaknesses to make up for this, because at this rate, going against a vampire seemed like a suicide mission. Vampire hunting didn’t seem like a very fun way to find adventures. The thing about the gas sounded familiar, and she wondered if she’d heard it before, or if she’d seen or smelled it in her last moments of consciousness.

Belle focused her attention back on Gold, who was looking at her with something like wariness in his eyes. He was also rubbing the thumb and index finger of his right hand against each other in what was an obvious nervous tick. She wondered why he seemed more afraid of her than she was of him. She moved her hand towards his very slowly, as if she was approaching a wild animal, and smiled gently at him. When she touched his hand, he froze, but he relaxed when he noticed her smile, and he stopped his fidgeting.

“You promised me a story, Mr. Gold,” Belle reminded him.

“Did I?” he asked weakly.

“You did.” She took her notebook and a pen out of her purse, and one-handedly flipped through it to find her list with questions. With the other hand she dug up a pen. She quickly marked the questions that were already answered – his diet had been at the top of her list.

“At the library, you mentioned that you were ‘blooded’. What does that mean?”

“It refers to receiving the blood that turns a human into a vampire. The most common way to do this is by exchanging blood through small cuts made on the fingertips. I believe you’ve already spotted mine,” Gold held up his hands for Belle, dislodging their hands that had somehow become entwined, and she noticed he had cuts on _all_ his fingertips - not just the ones on his right hand she´d seen before.

“What made those cuts?” Belle asked curiously.

“Nails. The vampire presses his nails to the fingertips of the human to make small cuts, and then does the same to his own hands. They then press the wounds together to exchange blood. The vampire cells convert the human to a new vampire.”

“Ew. That doesn’t sound very sanitary,” Belle said with a disgusted look. “And you…?” Belle left her question hanging.

Gold looked uncomfortable, but he seemed to have resigned himself to answering Belle’s questions. “I was born in 1676. I lived on the streets after my father abandoned me. The only way for me to climb the social ladder would be through the military. So, I lied about my age, and fought as a foot soldier in the Jacobite risings in ’89 of that century. Not even a month later I got wounded in my leg. I would have bled out, if I hadn’t been turned into a vampire.”

“Wait, what?” Belle asked shocked.

With a confused look, Gold said “I fought in a war and got wounded.”

“When you were _thirteen_ years old?”

“Yes,” Gold shrugged. “I wasn’t the youngest.”

“That’s horrible!” Belle exclaimed. She shook her head. Then her look turned confused. “You don’t look thirteen.”

“Of course I don’t look thirteen. I’m more than three centuries old!”

“But you’re a vampire! How can you age if you’re dead? Or undead. Or whatever you are.”

“I’m alive.”

“That’s ‘Frankenstein’, sweetie,” Belle deadpanned.

Gold rolled his eyes. “Vampires aren’t dead or undead. We are alive. We have a heartbeat and everything.”

“Really?” Belle’s eyes sparkled with mischief, and she reached over the table so she could put her hand to his neck to feel for a pulse. Gold froze and stopped breathing. Belle opened her mouth in a silent ‘oh’ as she felt his blood race under her fingers. After a few moments she patted his shoulder, and asked, “How does that work?”

It took Gold a few seconds to get his thoughts back in order. “Same as with humans. My heart pumps blood through my veins to distribute oxygen.”

Now it was Belle’s turn to roll her eyes. “I meant the aging thing. You’re clearly not thirteen, but you look very good for someone over three hundred years old.”

“We age at a slower pace than humans. A tenth, to be exactly.”

“So in those three hundred years you’ve only aged thirty years?” Gold nodded. “I’m pretty sure some people would _kill_ to get their hands on you.” Another nod. “How come people don’t know?”

“We live by _very_ strict rules,” Gold replied, “So don’t ever tell _anyone_ about this conversation.”

“Rules like ‘don’t leave your victims in a pile in the woods to be discovered by hikers’?”

“Indeed. That’s what I’ve been busy with at night lately: To find the idiot that’s doing this, before a legion of Generals come here.”

“Vampires have generals? What do they do?”

“Our Generals are like the vampire police. They are held in very high regard.”

“Are you a General?”

“No.”

“Why not? I mean, you’re trying to help them by finding the killer.”

“You don’t just write a letter of application. You need to do some tests, and you also need the recommendation of someone who already is a General.”

“So why -” Belle started, but she was interrupted again by her phone. She typed the third movie in response to her friends’ movies, and hit ‘send’. She put her phone away and looked up to Gold. He was frowning in the direction of her purse, his right hand occupied with his nervous tick again.

His gaze shifted back to her. “You send a text every fifteen minutes.”

“I… Yes.”

“Why? To whom?” Gold asked in a snarl. He placed his hands flat on the table, as if it was the only way for him to stop clenching and unclenching them.

“To Ariel. She was scared to let me go here alone,” Belle explained. She should probably feel threatened by him. He seemed angry, and he was a vampire, but she wasn’t scared at all. It was probably this lack of a proper response to dangerous situations and her refusal to think badly of people that got her tangled up in this vampire situation in the first place.

Gold calmed down at her explanation, though. It occurred to her that perhaps he’d thought she was texting law enforcement, or that maybe she was carrying a recording device or something. Gold cleared his throat. “That was… thoughtful of her,” he said after a few seconds of silence.

Belle nodded. “So, about Gen-”

“I don’t want to be a General, let’s leave it at that,” Gold interrupted her sharply. “Next question.” When he saw her wince at his angry tone, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Please?” he added gently.

Belle nodded and offered an apology, deciding not to press the matter. Maybe he’d failed the test; it seemed to be a sensitive subject. She looked at her list. “Daylight!” she exclaimed. “How does that work? I think _all_ vampire stories mention a weakness to daylight, but it doesn’t seem to affect you.”

“It does, actually, just not at the extreme rate movies would want you to believe,” Gold said with a smile. At the sight of the eagerness in her eyes, he elaborated. “We can walk outside during the day, though not for long. After about half an hour, we get sunburned. The exact time depends on the season and weather conditions, but as a rule of thumb, four hours of continued daylight is lethal to us.”

Belle shuddered. “So what happens then? Will you go up in a burst of flames?”

“No. I think it would look like a case of heatstroke.”

“Hmmm… so the sun _is_ a weakness. What about garlic?”

“Just gives me bad breath,” Gold replied with a grin.

“Silver?”

Gold winked at her. “I prefer gold.”

Belle rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know. Silver doesn’t hurt me at all. Neither do crosses or holy water.”

Belle made a mental not to try to use any of them against the other vampire. “Can you change into a bat?” Belle asked. She was genuinely curious, but she still felt a pang of worry over his answer. If a vampire could change into one thing, why wouldn’t they be able to change their appearance completely? Maybe even their voice as well? The other vampire could be anyone, in that case!

“We can’t. Dying our hair or surgery is the only option we have to change our appearance, if we were dissatisfied with it.”

Belle felt pleased about that; it meant the killer couldn’t either. She glanced to her list, and then looked up at Gold with a beaming smile. “Show me your fangs!”

Gold returned her smile. “I’m afraid that’s also a legend. I already have to be careful not to tear through my pockets with my nails, because they’re so sharp! Imagine chewing a hole through your cheek every time you close your mouth a bit too enthusiastically.”

“That’s not a pleasant mental image _at all_ ,” Belle commented dryly. “Do vampires have to be invited into houses? Is that why you own almost everything in Storybrooke?”

“I own Storybrooke because I enjoy the power and money that come with it. If I want to enter a house, I can. I have the added bonus of not _needing_ a key.”

“Jeez, none of the weaknesses the legends talk about are true. Do vampires have weaknesses, other than the sun? Is it possible to kill a vampire?”

Gold gasped and put his hand on his heart in mock hurt, his other hand in front of him as if to ward her off. “You wound me, Miss French! Planning my demise so soon?”

“Of course not, silly!” Belle said. She took his hand in hers, watching with amusement as he froze and relaxed again. “But there’s that other vampire… and I’d like to know how to defend myself.”

It took Gold a few seconds to shift his attention back from their clasped hands to her. “Most things that can kill a human also work for vampires, like a bullet through the head or heart, drowning, decapitation, electrocution, and most other things you could come up with. If you plan to push him off a building, make sure it’s high enough. Vampires are more durable than humans, so it would require a fall from a greater height.”

“That’s why you’ve been pushing that gun on me?” Belle asked.

“It is,” Gold confessed.

Belle felt touched by his concern for her, and she stood up to hug him in thanks. He made it easier by standing up as well, looking unsure of himself as she approached. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and felt his body freeze once again. She rested her head on his shoulder, nuzzling his throat. This was becoming less of a ‘thank you’ hug and more a way to indulge her own desires. His heart was racing, and she asked, “Do vampire hearts beat faster?”

“No. It’s… I, uhm… You are…” he stuttered. Belle reluctantly raised her head to look up at his face. His cheeks were flaming, and she could see from the corner in her eye how his hand was twitching close to her shoulder, as if he wanted to touch her but didn’t dare to do so. She decided it was a good thing vampires had a beating heart. He felt warm and safe, and he looked adorable when flustered.

Belle pressed a kiss to his cheek and stepped back. She missed his warmth immediately, and she thought she really needed some distance so she could properly process everything. It had been a very long day, and she felt dead on her feet. She opened her mouth to say something, when her phone signaled another fifteen minutes had passed. She quickly sent the text and put it away again. Gold was still looking at her in awe, his hand almost touching the cheek she had just kissed.

“I should probably head home, so I can process all information you just gave me,” Belle began in a serious tone. “I feel a little overwhelmed for shooting lessons, right now.”

“As you wish, Miss French,” Gold said. He straightened some invisible wrinkles from his suit. “Do you want me to bring you home?”

“You have a car?” Belle asked surprised. She hadn’t noticed one.

“Of course.”

“Why? You’re faster on foot.”

“Appearances, mostly.”

“Okay, I’d really appreciate a ride,” Belle said as she grabbed her purse and started to gather the dishes.

Gold lightly touched her elbow. “Please, let me take care of that.”

Belle beamed at him, hoping to assure him she welcomed his touch. He smiled back shyly, and quickly gathered the bags from Granny’s and the dishes. He turned in the direction of the door and disappeared from sight, and reappeared empty-handed a few seconds later. It was probably going to take a while to really get used to that. She followed him outside, past the porch to the left side of the house, where a black Cadillac was waiting.

Like a true gentleman, he held the door open for her, and waited until she was seated before closing it and walking to the driver’s side. Since he was walking at normal speed, Belle had time to send ‘Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey’ in the group chat. He sat down, but before he started the car, he asked, “What are you sending Ariel? Is it something different every time?”

“It is,” Belle nodded. She blushed under his inquisitive gaze. It was likely he’d think her to be silly for their elaborate code, but he’d answered all her questions, so she thought it was only fair to do the same. “We agreed on a list of Disney movies, a movie for when I walked home, and one for once I got there.”

“Good thinking,” Gold said. He started the car and drove off. “Who came up with this plan?”

“Henry, actually,” Belle answered.

Gold chuckled. “So he’s an official member of the team now?”

“He is. He was so enthusiastic about the whole thing.”

“I can imagine. Pestering a poor, old pawnbroker with rabid animals,” Gold said with twinkling eyes.

Belle swatted at his shoulder. “Hush, you. You enjoyed it as well, and don’t you dare deny it.”

“I did,” Gold agreed.

The car came to a stop in front of the library, and Gold turned to Belle, his expression suddenly serious. “Please, Miss French, will you promise me you won’t go after this vampire on your own?”

“How about a deal?” Belle asked. Gold raised an eyebrow in interest. “I agree not to do that, if you address me by my given name from now on.”

“Deal,” Gold said immediately.

Belle bit her lip, hesitating for a moment. “Would you care for a second deal, Mr. Gold?”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Your first name in exchange for a date?”

Gold exhaled loudly. “A-Angus.”

“Well, Angus,” Belle said as she grabbed his wrist and took out a pen with her other hand to write something on his palm, “Call me to discuss the details.”

Belle put the pen back in her purse, kissed his cheek one last time, and left the car.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> None of the characters are mine.


End file.
